Bound To Secrecy
by Raquellos
Summary: A newbie comes to Mystic Falls with whom Damon is utterly fascinated. But he doesn't know what he got himself into, when he learns about the reasons that brought her to MF... Rated M for adult content! Damon/OC. PLEASE REVIEW
1. Chapter 1

"You're staring..."  
>"Quite the opposite, I'm observing!"<br>"That still means: You're staring and not admitting to be staring. If on the contrary you really were observing you would share your theory on that girl next to Matt with me right now. But I bet your thought are momentarily just blank besides a tiny, but overwhelming picutre in your head, where you are sucking blook from her sweet and soft neck..."

"You're soooo right and sooo clearvoyant Caroline..."  
>"You're welcome Damon," Caroline was all-smiles,<br>"And now, shut up!" Damon not so much.  
>"Oh, what a shame. And here I was hoping I could tell you some very important things about her, but if you rather want wo switch subjects..." Her smirk was pure evil and she loved every minute about it. For once she could make him squirm and not the other way around.<p>

Damon tried to keep his cool but Caroline noticed a little nervous twitch around his icy-blue pupils, giving away how interested he really was. "Come on Caroline, don't be a tease! You know you can't keep a secret..."  
>"That's true," she chirped, "but for the longer half of the evening I probably could..."<p>

Damon moaned into his half-empty glass of bourbon, violently grabbed Caroline's arm and thereby turned her, so she was fully facing him.  
>"You know you can't hurt me," she still managed to sound rather chipper.<br>"Don't tempt me Blondie! Just say what you have to say and I'll leave you alone..."  
>Again Caroline smiled, now very close to his face: "Good to know how smitten you are, how bad you want her! So, just to warn you off: She's Matt's cousin - don't go there Damon Salvatore!"<p>

"Excellent!" With a wide smile he let go of her arm and took another sip of his whiskey. "Why didn't you say so earlier? I thought I'd be taking his new girlfriend away from him. And we wouldn't want that, since he hasn't had the best of luck in that departement lately..." He made a pause, heavy with meaning and just glanced at Caroline for a second, she was fuming. But Damon wasn't done yet: "I couldn't really tell if they were related, they touch each other quite often, don't you think?"  
>"As I said: They're just cousins, not brother and sister. So maybe you wouldn't exactly call it incest if the two of them hit it off..."<br>Damon made a face: "You should seriously think about contacting a therapist. Your fantasies are all over the place my dear..."  
>"Bite me Damon, I'm out of here!" Caroline turned on her heel before he could stop her and walked out of the 'MYSTIC GRILL'.<p>

Damon pouted: "I would if you let me Blondie!" Now he had to think of a way to get closer to the lovely lady in the back. He thought about roughly intruding the idle banter and chitchat of the group around Matt and the mysterious new girl he had never seen in Mystic Falls before. They were sitting around a table in the sternmost corner of the bar. He could just introduce himself and try to charm his way into her little heart. But that would be too obvious. Compelling a beautiful, tasty woman and feeding on her had been a lot easier for him about a year ago. Now, with several people knowing about the vampires in town, consuming vervain and all the other fancy stuff, it was getting difficult. He was still interested in keeping a low profile. In addition to this he wasn't exactly in Matt's good graced right now. He was still suspicious of Damon and after everything that had happened, who would blame him for that? Matt wouldn't let Damon sit with him and his cousin without keeping a sharp eye on him. So, he had to be patient and wait for a chance to get what he craved. The longer he watched her and thought about it, the more he craved what he couldn't have right away. Maybe he should try to be a little bit more of a 'Ripper' like Stefan in his darkest days. Morals and ethics sucked pretty much.

Jeez - why did he have to think about Stefan's 'Ripper'-times? That always led straight to Elena - memories. Memories he would have cherished if Stefan's and his role had been reversed by now, but concerning her - they weren't. In the end she had forgiven his little brother everything he had done and run right back to him. All Stefan had had to do was to be extra broody, distant, remorseful and back on bunny-blood. Just one look out of his big, sad eyes had sent her back in his arms. At least that was how it felt to Damon. Pathetic! Real pathetic! Like some episode of "Little house on the prairie!"

* * *

><p>"Two beer and one gin-tonic please?" A soft, but confident voice interrupted his thoughts. Matt's new cousin was standing next to him on her toes, leaning across the bar to shout her order over the noise in the 'Grill'.<p>

"Actually, make that two gin-tonic," she added, smiling at the man behind the counter. Nearby Damon could not only smell her distinctive human odor, but also her perfume that made him go weak at the knees. Something sweet, yet fresh and oriental. DOLCE & GABBANA meets PACO RABANNE, presumably. Her hair was a little lighter than Elena's, with more shades of red in it and the way that it was cut short, just a little over her chin made it very curly and herself look younger than he assumed she really was.

"Can I see some ID please," the bartender asked harshly before he even started preparing her drinks. The girl sighed audibly and rolled her eyes, then grabbed her purse and fumbled with several cards before she shoved her ID under the bartender's nose. He nodded his apologies and got his job started. While pocketing her card she silently cursed: "You should think at 26 you'd be over that, but no..." With Damon's superhearing it was no problem to pick up on that. He turned to her on his barstool and seized his chance: "Like it of not, in a few years time you'll be grateful for everyone who thinks you're an underage drinker. But I guess, beautiful women like you never really grow old..."

Hearing this she also turned to him, a smile playing on her rosy lips and around her eyes. They were disturbingly blue, like a summer sky. At a second glance they were also a bit odd. One had a few brown spots around the iris, the other hadn't. Her face was kind of pale so that Damon was even more drawn to the whole lot of freckles that were blooming on her cheeks, nose and forehead. She was probably the type of girl that had freckles all over her knees and shoulders as well. He would have liked to count them on the spot.

"I'm sorry, but that was like _the_ lamest pick-up line I've ever heard in my life."  
>Damon shrugged and gave his best to put on a shy smile "Yeah, I know, but I just had to say something to you."<br>"Why?" She still smiled up at him.  
>"Because you're gorgeous and I'd like to get to know you..."<br>She smirked - quite a bit sassy, he thought. "Get to know _me_? Or get to know the way I'd cry out your name when you fu..."  
>"Wooaah," Damon raised his hands: "Someone's being blunt..." Maybe he should have tried the eye-thing directly. He didn't have her down for the aggressive type.<br>"Yeah, so - I like to cut to the chase." She didn't even blush by saying all this. Damon had thought of her being the shy and quiet one, but far from it! This was getting more and more interesting by the minute.  
>So he kept digging: "And, would you?"<br>"What?"  
>"Cry out my name, if I fucked you..."<br>Still no blushing: "Maybe... if you have a nice name and you do a good job - if I was satisfied, then definitely... I'm a screamer - just in case you were wondering." She answered without contemplating her words too long.  
>"Great! Now I got a world-class hard-on, thank you very much."<br>She laughed heartily, right into his eyes and paid for her drings at the same time: "You're welcome... what was your name again?"  
>"Damon! My name's Damon." For the weirdest reason he had the urge to clear his throat, but he resisted. She took her tablet with the drinks and made to leave, but then she leaned into him to whisper into his ear: "DAMON..." She let his name roll softly over her tongue and then sighed in a way that made hie ears throb, sending signals straight into his groins. "I'm sure that's a nice name to be crying at the top of one's extatic lungs..." And with that she left to sit with Matt and his other friends.<p>

Oh boy! She hadn't a clue what she had just done. Damon was thunderstruck and she hadn't even touched him.


	2. Chapter 2

As the night continued Damon heard the laughter and talking of the little group around Matt getting louder and more raucous as they got drunker by the minute.

He really hoped his victim was a woman who could hold her liquor. He didn't have the desire to be puked all over his ARMANI jeans while holding her neck between his fangs. Just when Damon thought he couldn't hear another of Matt's football anecdotes, they started to leave.

"Oh no, not again Jos!" Matt complained and the voice answering was music to Damon's ears: "Sorry, but I have to take a pee - right this minute. I'll see you guys outside." Damon couldn't believe his luck.  
>He snuck up behind her, just when she was washing her hands.<br>The strangest thing: She didn't even seem surprised to see him.  
>Just for a second she jumped slightly and drew air through her teeth, but then she was back to her flirtatious self: "Oh, hello you... I think you got the wrong door."<br>"I think I just got the right one," he growled and stepped closer, so that the smell of her hair almost overwhelmed him. Nothing about her showed that she'd be nervous. She continued washing her hands, even with him so close by, took a towel to rub them dry and then turned to face him. Again that earnest look out of her sky-blue pupils that bore directly into his. He could see her blood pulsation through her veins. Her pulse was even, her heart didn't even skip a beat. She really way that calm or another supernatural being.  
>"I'm sorry I got you so excited earlier with my indecencies. You know what they say about Dutch courage and all..."<br>Damon thought that he really shouldn't let he talk so much. That melodious, slightly rockstar croaky voice of hers had a dangerous effect on him. Every time her lips moved, he imagined them planting little, lustful kissed all over his body. Just stop it already Damon! That whole Elena-crap has gotten you all soft and messed up. She's supposed to be your midnight-shag-snack.  
>"Are you just going to stare at me? What kind of a freak are you?" There - she did it again!<br>"Sorry, I just got lost in your marvellous eyes..." Damon drawled, but with a slight sarcastic note in his voice.  
>Now, that was more like it - keep it up Salvatore, he encouraged himself. He gave her one of his special side-smirks.<br>She cocked her head and squinted at him: "I think I don't have time for this loverboy... I'm gonna go outside, meet my friends and you have yourself a very good night! Maybe I'll see you around when you're not lost for words besides some shitty one-liners..."  
>She went for the door, but he was blocking her in. "What the hell..."<br>"I want you to come with me, have two hours of amazing sex and then let me feed on you..." He had grabbed her by her narrow shoulders and compelled her. It had been a long night, an awful month, he was tired and just wanted to succeed in finishing this game. Even if it meant he was cheating a bit.

Of course it would have been more fun if she'd come along willingly, but he just didn't have the time and energy to convince her by using all his charm and good manners.

* * *

><p>For a moment she stood there staring back at him, thoughts rushing through her head. Should she stake him right here and now, or have sex with him first?<p>

It had sounded quite intriguing as he had put it: "Two hours of amazing sex". Josephine was sure they would be amazing. She could imagine vividly what Damon kept under his tight silk jumper and in those slim black jeans of his. That face alone should be kept in a museum to keep safe and for everyone to stare at and wonder how on earth anyone could be so flawlessly beautiful. He really was too good-looking to be true.  
>On the other hand Josephine wasn't too keen on getting bitten and drained of blood in the process. He had made his intentions very clear. Maybe foreplay would be safe? Jeez, she was a little tipsy. She always got incredibly horny when she was tipsy.<p>

Concentrate already Jos! Remember the things you were told! She had to act as if compelled, let him believe he was in control in order to get him down later.  
>She repeated back to him what he had said before and added: "Just let me call Matt and tell him I'm gonna be late... that they shall go home without me!"<br>Matt would get suspicious, she was sure. After all she knew no one in this town, so why should she want to stay in that bar alone?

"Tell him you went for a drink with the barkeeper. You already left for another club - you didn't catch the name when you went inside, because you're a bit out of it." Again Damon focused on her eyes so intensely, that she was tempted to avert hers, but she didn't. For all she knew that would have given her away; would have told him that she couldn't be manipulated. Josephine wondered what it really would feel like though. My ass, his eyes were so cruelly blue, like glacier-ice in the sun.  
>"Wait until you call him. First we have to get out of here." She nodded and he gestured for her to follow.<br>Her plan was to play along and wait for the right moment to use her weapons. Teaching a self-centered vampire a lesson should be fun and she knew she could do it.

They left the 'Grill' through the back door, out into the pitch-black darkness of Mystic Falls' backyards. In the alley between two factory buildings Damon stopped and ordered: "Now call him!" Josephine followed his instructions, arguing a bit with Matt about wether she was insane to leave with a stranger or if he should come and get her. Her consolation was that he was still with his friends. Otherwise he might have said some things that mustn't be said over the phone when in company of a man with superhearing-abilities. "It's okay Matt, just go home. I can handle myself. I don't need no Babysitter!"  
>She snapped her cellphone shut and smiled up at Damon: "How was that - DAMON!" Again she pronaunced his name like it was some sort of delicious and sweet piece of chocolate, melting on her tongue.<p>

For a moment she thought he would attack her right then, telling by the way his veins suddenly swelled around his eyes. But the next second he had backed her into a wall with his sheer presence, an appetent smile playing on his lips as he leaned closer into her. "You haven't got a clue what you got yourself into," he whispered huskily and Josephine felt her cheecks empurple and a magnificent lump forming in her throat. Yet she couldn't stop teasing: "So show me," she moaned.

Then everything happened too fast...


	3. Chapter 3

Damon's mouth crashed down on hers, with a force that she would've never expected. His teeth hit her lips and his warm tongue searched eagerly for hers. Without willing to her hands went up to claw at his raven hair and his flew up to her neck and cheek.

Josephine felt a passion growing inside of her that she had not know before. She couldn't think of anyhing else besides this man in fron of her who made her burn with desire. At the same time there was something unhealthy about his touch. It felt like she was literally burning.  
>The more their kisses deepened, the more she felt like she had been punched in the chest. Electric shocks ran through her body, not the good kind. No, ones that were caused by a fuse or something. It hurt! His hands on her cheeks were on fire and she thought she heard the sizzling sound of burned flesh.<br>Josephine felt a sob building in her breast. She would be torn into pieces every minute now, but then he suddenly let go of her.

When she tried to catch her breath she saw the shocked expression on his face.  
>Damon was panting heavily and feeling his lips with his fingers: "What the fuck..." he glared at her.<br>Had he felt it, too?  
>He couldn't have.<br>Damon touched her hand again, a little worried it seemed. He looked like someone who wasn't sure if the water in the bathtub was too hot or just right.  
>The moment his skin touched hers, Josephine was instantly thrown by all the emotions running through her body.<br>Love + hatred, passion, sorrow, anger + fear, lust, admiration, neglect + jealously, hope and confusion. A crazy mix-up of everything. It hurt so much she wanted to scream, but it felt like she was suffocating at the same time.

Again Damon was the one who found a way to pull away and with one last confused look he was gone in a flash.

* * *

><p>Still shaken Josephine let herself into Matt's home. In fact it was also her home for the time being. Actually for an unknown amount of days, weeks, maybe months. God, she hoped it wouldn't have to be for years. She locked the door carefully and snuck up to her room.<p>

On her way she noticed there were still lights in Matt's bedroom. It was only fair she let him know everything was okay, or at least she could pretend it was. "Matt - are you still up?" She whispered while opening his door slowly. It had been ajar, so he probably hadn't brought a girl with him. One could never know.  
>Matt lay on his bed in his sweatpants, eyes halfclosed - he was alone. When he heard and saw her he got up and closed the distance between them quickly.<br>"Thank God, you're back! I was so worried about you, I even thought about calling Sheriff Forbes. Are you okay?"  
>"Yeah, yeah. It's alright, I'm fine. But you didn't call her, did you?" Josephine didn't want the stern, blonde Sheriff to know that she hadn't acted according to the rules tonight.<br>"No, I didn't. God, you don't know how relieved I am that you're here - in one piece." Matt really was, he wrapped his arms around her and squeezed her tight. For a moment Josephine was afraid she'd get the same images and chemical reactions as before with Damon. Maybe something was wrong with her.

Thankfully it just continued to be a very warm and comforting embrace once Josephine eased up.  
>These were really strong arms, she thought, while her head rested against Matt's broad, naked chest, ripped with muscles from working out. Besides the traces of alcohol from their little jag earlier, he smelled of soap and fresh laundry. Josephine caught herself breathing him in and nuzzling his biceps, her hands gently stroking over his aps, causing goose bumps to appear all over his upper body.<br>Matt took her head in his hands und pulled her hair back gently, but still so firm that she had to look up at him if she didn't want to get hurt.  
>"Do you think this is wise?" Matt mumbled, obviously not wanting to hear a "NO" to his question, rating by how his heartbeat had picked up enormously. Josephine could feel it with her hands still on his chest.<br>"Since I'm not your real cousin I think it doesn't matter, if it's wise or not..." And she still was extremely turned on by her little vampire encounter earlier...


	4. Chapter 4

_"You should think I would know what to do now - after all I've been dealing with the vampire-situation in this town for ages, but this..." Sheriff Forbes wasn't sure if her honesty scared the young woman in front of her or if it didn't matter anyway, because she had seen through so much worse. Probably she would expect her to be more professional about it, shut the hell up about her own insecurities and act like she knew what to do. But it had been a while since her seminar about:  
>"How to handle people in a witness-protection-program".<em>

_She had to think of a solution._

_The curly haired girl needed a safe place to stay, a new identity and... Liz had to be very careful who she told the truth. The fewer, the better. But she had to call on one of her fellow citizens at least about the matter. Liz would have taken care of the girl herself, but she wanted her to live in a house without vampires and/or werewolves. The problem was that these criteria didn't leave too many households..._

_"Listen, I'm gonna get you a new ID - you need a new look, a new style, a new name. Also we have to come up with a good cover story why you are new in this town. If you're going to stay for a while, then you can't be kept inside all the time. You might want to go out, lead a 'normal' life. That's going to be tough._ _Besides, there are a few things about some Mystic Falls residents I should tell you about ..."_

_"Okay, so - what are we waiting for?"  
>Liz noticed that the girl didn't look scared at all; she didn't blink once with her big, clearblue eyes. She didn't shed a tear about being all alone in a foreign town, a foreign state even. It seemed that the trip through half the country without knowing where she might end up, hadn't effected her in the slightest. How could anyone be that cool about this kind of nerve-wrecking uncertainty?<em>

_On the other hand it made Liz worry less about the newbie's ability to survive in this town. If she had to live between vampires, werewolves, originals, witches and who-knew-what-else, she had to be strong, hardy and cold-blooded._

_Suddenly Sheriff Forbes knew where to accommodate her new protégé, she took out her phone and dialled:  
>"From now on you're going to be Josephine Donovan!"<em>


	5. Chapter 5

"Please tell me, she's not one of your judgy little witch friends..." Damon snarled at Bonnie. He had been up all night thinking how on earth it was possible to feel so much pain just by touching someone. Even he as a quick healing individual had felt like being staked trough the heart, or even worse like his heart had been ripped out of his chest. That little bitch had had him fooled. He should have checked that the compulsion was really working. Like Caroline's father had once said: His technique was a little lazy...

Because Damon needed answers he couldn't give to himself he had turned to Bonnie for advise, but he wasn't the most patient or grateful client.

"You're asking my opinion and now you're insulting me?" Bonnie still couldn't believe him sometimes. He was incredibly rude and couldn't care less about it.  
>"Okay, I'm sorry - but I'm freaking out here a bit. I just have a weird feeling about the whole ... situation. So please explain to me what happens when you touch a supernatural being!"<br>Bonnie sighed audibly: "Normally when I touch someone - like you for example - I just get an image. It's always unexpected and filled with a lot of emotions. Which is why I have to snatch away my hand sometimes. It's impulsive. Everytime it happens I'm shocked, because I don't get images with everyone and not everytime. But the way you describe it, there was something you both felt when you touched. More like an electrical shock. So it means, that you were both wearing shoes with rubber soles or the two of you are made for each other, sparks flying, signs from heaven above etc... the poor girl!"

"Very helpful Bonnie, really! I'm so much wiser, more confident and hopelful now that we've talked," Damon snarled.

* * *

><p><em>Footsteps came closer, stopped – they seemed to be just in front of her and she tried to hold her breath even more. The whole world must hear her heart pounding… She stood totally still, hoping against hope that whoever was right on the other side of this wall wouldn't guess that the cupboard he or she was facing, actually was a door.<em>

_"Is there anyone else in the house," she heard a deep, impatient voice (she wouldn't forget for the life of her) downstairs._

_"No, no… it's just us three," Suzanne cried out, blank horror tearing up her voice. Josephine felt more panic creeping up her spine. Darkness, the sound of a gun being loaded, then there were three shots exactly. She fought the urge to vomit, trembling, searching for something to hold on to…_

Josephine got up with a jump, her bedding sweaty just like the rest of her body. This dream had felt so real and it started to freak her out. Since three nights she was having terrible flashbacks, but none of them had been like this one. Her heart was still racing and so was her mind. This was not healthy at all.

She was relieved that she had chosen to leave Matt after he had fallen asleep. She didn't need him to ask her questions she didn't want to answer. He didn't exactly know what a train-wreck she was. In order to focus on her plan Josephine had to keep up the tough act. She would not be afraid, she would not get hurt, she would keep her emotional distance and lead her supposed second, new life in this mysterious town.

The only thing that could get into the way was Damon Salvatore. In a way it was her own fault. She liked to play with fire and now what did she get? A probably pissed-off vampire, out to seek vengeance. But who could have known that she would have this affect on him? Josephine would've liked to know herself what the hell had happened between them last night. Why had it felt so incredibly and overwhelmingly exciting, good and sweet and also made her believe she had to die of pain? How dare this supernatural walk into her life and make everything much more complicated than it already was?

* * *

><p>Damon was fuming. His temper had worsened in between his visit at Bonnie's and a trip to the 'Grill' for a day-drink. After Bonnie's not-so-satisfying analysis he had tried to convince himself he should probably just forget about it, don't get involved. He would keep his distance, not let the curly-haired newbie her get to him and stay focused on how he could deal with the loss of Elena to Stefan and Klaus still out &amp; about.<br>But while he was sipping his bourbon and staring at some random girls, giggling over a cappuccino, he found his mind wandering back to the image of freckled, rosy cheeks and cornflower-blue eyes again and again. After five unsuccessful attempts of getting rid of these thoughts he threw some money at the bartender and stormed out onto the streets.  
>Somehow he was getting tired of it: Everytime a problem seemed to be solved a new one popped up. There was always something to fight, always an air of danger around new people he met; people he didn't know where to put.<br>He would confront her about yesterday! He just had to find a way to be invited into Matt's house...


	6. Chapter 6

**Authors note: Thanks to all of you, who have added my story to their "alert" oder "favorite story" list. I really appreciate it. Hope you like the next chapter...**

* * *

><p>Damon didn't have to go through much effort.<br>Midway between the "Grill" and Matt's house he got a call from Stefan:  
>"Can't talk right now little bro, risky business to deal with..." he chirruped into his cell.<br>"Don't tell me you're about to do something stupid - like ... again," Stefan groaned on the other end.  
>"Even if I was I certainly wouldn't tell you of all people."<br>"Right. Now, that we got that figured out could you maybe spare a minute or two? There's someone here looking for you."  
>"Who?" Damon stopped in his tracks, as did his heart in misgiving.<br>"Some girl who says she's Matt's cousin. I believe her name is Josephine..."  
>Damon interrupted his brother on the spot: "I'll be two seconds!"<p>

* * *

><p>Josephine had spent the morning in front of the TV. Eventually she would die of boredom, in this house, in this little town if she didn't get something useful to do. Soon! Sheriff Forbes had promised to look out for a job Josephine could apply to.<p>

All the time through "How I met your mother", to "Grey's Anatomy" and "Gossip Girl" her thoughts had been wandering back to last night and goddamn Damon Salvatore!  
>Matt had strictly warned her off of him (and pretty much everyone else in Mystic Falls). If it was for him to decide she would stay locked up in a cage of glass.<br>But it wasn't like her to sit and wait until Damon came to pay her a visit as she assumed he would sooner or later. He had been rattled after last night, just like she had been. Josephine had seen it in his eyes in that split second before he had vanished.  
>He would want her to explain how she had been able to cause him so much physical pain, even though she didn't know herself what had happened then.<p>

No, she would confront him herself ! What did she have to lose anyway? Yes, her life and her plan for revenge (revenge concerning a whole different matter), but at least then she would die being offensive and not the little human victim keeping still. She would be the one to change her fate!  
>For all she knew Damon's brother Stefan was the boyfriend of Matt's ex-girlfriend Elena. They all lived in that funny, out of square and mysterious boarding-house on the outskirts of Mystic Falls. She would just go there.<p>

Josephine left a note for Matt, not to worry and that she had just gone job hunting and for a walk in the park. Then she took her bike to the Salvatore mansion.

* * *

><p>In the hallway of the boarding-house Damon bumped into Stefan &amp; Elena hugging - causing Damon to frown grumpily. "Where is she?" he bellowed.<br>"In the library! Listen Damon," Stefan had grabbed Damon's arm, as his brother wanted to brush past him:  
>"Whatever you two have going on - think about us having bigger problems than harmless humans in this town!"<br>Of course Stefan was referring to Klaus and his siblings, still living amongst them, but right now Damon couldn't care less about it: "Alright, alright Stef! Just let me talk to her!"  
>"Damon, be nice - it's Matt's cousin after all," now Elena was lecturing him, too. He hated it when she told him what he should do and what he couldn't do as if he was a 12-year-old with a bad temper.<br>Okay, he had a bad temper, but her tone made him absolutely furious. Damon would've liked to tear her throat out, if he didn't still care deeply about his brother's girl.  
>"Of course Elena, as always: I'll be <em>extra<em> nice with a cherry on top!" With a 100kW-smile, that lasted a second exactly, he pushed Stefan aside, threw his leather-jacket over a mirror on the wall and whistled: "Don't you two have somewhere else to be?"

"So - Josephine it is... how exceptional!" She jumped the slightest bit when she noticed Damon suddenly standing in the middle of the room scowling at her.  
>"Yeah - I'm sorry we didn't get to the part where I reveal my name last night, but now you know - no hard feelings!"<br>She stood by the liquor cabinet next to the window. Rays of sunlight flowed in through the half-open velvet curtains, enlightening the stands of red in her hair and letting grains of dust dance through the room.

"How did you get to live in such a beautiful and antique place? It's really lovely!" Josephine continued in a chit-chatty tone while Damon remained quiet and eyed her from the other side of the couch; his muscles tense and rippling under his tight shirt.  
>He didn't know what to think. Was she that stupid to come looking for him or that smart? Did she have secret powers? Other than obviously a shield against vampire-touches.<br>Damon noticed a small tattoo on her left wrist. Maybe a sign of an occult secret society? Jeez, he got himself lost in conspiracy theories.

"Would you like to share a drink with me? As I remember correctly we didn't get to that part either..." Josephine didn't wait for him to answer. She poured two glasses of scotch from the cabinet. Then she stepped closer to the couch, holding one out for him. He'd have to come a little closer to get it, but he didn't take it immediately:  
>"Let's not pretend this isn't some silly game you're playing! We both know why you're here!" Damon spoke with barely hidden contempt. He was suddenly mad at her for being so bold to come here and rile him up. And she'd just poured drinks from <em>his <em>liquor as if she was the owner of this house!  
>"Oh, right - I forgot. Then tell me: What the fuck did you do to me in that alley yesterday!"<br>Damon laughed bitterly: "What did I do to you? What did you do to me? Your skin was like poison! Did you use vervained bodylotion or what sick trick was that?"  
>"You're the one talking about sick tricks? Don't get me started about yours to lure woman into your bed!" She hissed. "But to answer your question: No, I don't bathe in vervain, I just happen to have some, so you lot can't control me. Maybe you're using something to make humans burn under your touch - at least that's what it felt like..."<br>"Sorry, no such thing. So - you felt it too, hm? Very strange... did something else happen while we were up against that wall..." Damon surpressed the delightful moments of that scenario. Somehow anyway his anger slowly evaporated.  
>"No!" Josephine said and shoved the scotch directly under his nose and this time he took it, stepping a little closer to her.<br>''Thanks," when Damon grabbed the glass, their fingers touched for seconds. Damon twitched away from the contact. But he did not make a move to back away from her. She had decided not to mention the rush of emotions overwhelming her the second time Damon had touched her the night before. Although she didn't know him he seemed to be the kind of guy who liked to keep his feelings bottled up. Her being aware of his inner struggles would most likely freak him out.  
>Damon stayed put and watched her every move out of the corner of his eyes, while he sipped from his drink. He tasted it carefully, as if he expected her to poison him.<br>Josephine stepped up to him and he didn't move in the slightest. While doing so, she wondered about many things:  
>1. Why did she always have to get herself into trouble?<br>2. Why could she feel the heat of his body, when he was supposed to be dead?  
>3. How on earth could anyone on this earth get her close to hyperventilating just by looking at her?<br>4. What did he truly want?

"Why did you come to find me?" Damon still eyed her like a tiger would his prey, Josephine had to do something about that:  
>"Because... I was wondering what would've happened if there hadn't been all these painful sparks between us and I'd like to know if it's happening for a second time..."<br>Damon didn't believe a word she was saying, but he liked the direction this conversation was taking.  
>Meanwhile he was aching to touch her. She really was fearless, as intrigued by him as he was by her. She couldn't keep away, he admired that. Her gaze was fiery, her intentions clear, when she rested both her hands on his lower stomach, just over his belt. They both waited for the painful chemical reaction, but apart from both their heartbeats picking up speed and racing with desire, nothing happened so far. One more look at her half-open lips and gone was Damon's resitance. He downed his drink in one, let the glass crash onto the floor, then grabbed her by the shoulders and backed her into the door. Still no electrical shocks. But their skin wasn't touching just yet.<p>

"You got one hell of a nerve!" he snarled at her, but she just laughed nastily and ripped his shirt apart in one fluid motion:  
>"And you got one hell of an upper-class clothing-style."<br>"I think you owe me one hell of a lot of money for ruining that."  
>"Shut up DAMON!" Again she played that trick with his name, killing the last bit of his self-restraint. Damon felt goose-bumps creeping up his spine, his whole body trembling in anticipation of her sheer presence, her hot and curvaceous body, her eagerness. He grabbed her tight tank-top, there was the sound of ripping fabric and the sensation of two perfect peach-shaped breasts bouncing free.<p>

As Josephine slid her hands up his now naked chest, that heaved and lowered in an up-beat, she held her breath.  
>Damon shuddered, and for a short instance there was a glint of scepticism and hesitation in his look, but still: No burning body-parts and electrical shocks.<p>

"I think you owe me two amazing hours of sex you promised me the last time we met..." Josephine bit her lip and arched her head back, while Damon licked over her exposed neck and jaw, but kept her eyes half-open all the time. She didn't trust him for one second.


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's note: Here is the smutty part I left out last chapter. Enjoy and review!**

* * *

><p>Damon's lips were crushing hers, his whole body pressing her against that door full force. His tongue was entering her mouth before she even had a chance to register the kiss. Still she waited for something to happen, but the only pain she felt was the ache to touch Damon everywhere and every way possible. His hands went down her body, cupping her bottom and raising her up. Josephine quickly crossed her legs behind his back to keep her balance. She dragged his torn shirt down his shoulders to reveal more naked skin and well-shaped muscles. Then she tried to undo bis belt buckles, which took a little bit more time than supposed to. Her fingers where shaking from the caressing his mouth gave her collarbone and sensitive nipples. When he dragged his teeth along her shoulders she gasped for air, even more by the time she finally had Damon's jeans pushed over his firm bum and an impressive erection rubbed against her legs through the fabric of his silk boxer-briefs.<p>

She felt she was letting go, giving in to the pleasure his kisses and touches were causing her body. But she couldn't let that happen. Fully opening her eyes again she freed herself of his grip around her waist and pushed him away.  
>Damon shot her an annoyed look, still breathing heavily: "Seriously?"<br>But when he saw she was slowly taking her pants off while keeping her eyes on his all the time, he relaxed. Josephine revealed black lacy panties and very well-trained legs. As those panties went off as well Damon unconciously licked his lips. He dashed forward again to have her right then and there, but she raised her index finger and pointed to the couch: "Sit!"  
>Normally he didn't like being bossed around, especially not by his sleeping partners, but funnily enough he obeyed without arguing. He slumped down on the couch, crossed his arms behind his head and gave her his best come-on smile.<p>

Josephine interally smirked: Who would have thought she'd ever act out like this? If anyone had told her before that she would decide how to have sex with a vampire, that she'd slowly roll down his boxer-briefs and go down on him until he couldn't bear it any longer and let out deep groans of extasy - she would have called them crazy.  
>But here she was, Damon absent-mindedly stroked her hair, while she gave him the best blowjob she ever had given. She was really beginning to enjoy herself and him being under her thumb. She could see beads of perspiration forming on his wonderfully defined abs, he was pretty close.<br>With one hand she touched herself. She was dripping wet and ready to go for him.  
>"Oh, please don't stop! Fuck..." Damon moaned when she let go of his cock.<br>In one fluid motion Josephine got up from her knees and straddled him, shoving his hard length deep inside her, before Damon even knew it.  
>Without wanting to she gasped at the sensation of feeling him inside of her. At first she only moved slowly until she had adjusted to his size, but then it was like a rush. Damon's warm hands were all over her hot body and he seemed to know all the right buttons to press to get her going. Josephine rode him harder and more demanding, but she really had to try hard to keep looking him into the eyes. All the time Damon kept that firm look on her face as well. It was sexy and exited her even more.<br>At some point Josephine bit her lip to keep from screaming with pleasure. Maybe Stefan and Elena still were next door...  
>When Damon noticed he dug his fingers even deeper into her skin:<br>"I thought you said you where a screamer, Josephine!" he breathed into her neck, before he bit down there. He didn't draw any blood, still it finally pushed Josephine over the edge. His warm breath on her ears made her weak and she found herself moaning into his shoulder. For a moment there weren't any thoughts in her head, just blissful extasy. Still riding him through her first orgasm she took his face into her hands, finding his lips with hers and groaning into his mouth: "Oh Damon...oooohhhh, shit". She took him with her, rode him home mercilessly until he came with a soft grunt, pressing her body to his until she thought she'd get smashed. Their breathing sounded harsh in the exhaustion of the aftermath. Josephine pulled free while Damon still seemed numb from their exertions.

* * *

><p>When Josephine got home she had to face Matt, looking glum and being not too happy with her leaving the house for so long. But she brushed him off, complaining it was none of his business and closed the door to her room behind her with a loud thud. She knew she was being unfair, but right now she was tired and worn out and again confused.<br>Josephine lay down on the bed that had once belonged to Matt's dead sister Vicky (every time she was aware of that it somehow gave her the creeps), and stared up at the ceiling.  
>She had left Damon with a playful smile on her lips, saying something like: "I guess, I'll see you 'round," and he didn't stop her. He'd been watching her with that inscrutable look on his face. Either he still wanted to kill her or just do it all over again or he didn't care.<br>Josephine felt a laugh bubbling up in her throat. At first she tried to resist the urge, but she found she couldn't. Suddenly she was laughing out loud. First a deep, throaty laugh, that quickly turned into a hysterical one. She turned onto her stomach to muffle the sounds into her cushions. She'd fucking slept with a vampire! She lived in a town full of werewolves, witches and Original vampires - anyone from home would sent her into a closed institution if she told them about it.  
>Thank God she wasn't allowed to talk to anyone anyway. At that point her laughing had turned into crying.<p>

* * *

><p>Damon couldn't stop thinking about that hot library encounter. The heavy breathing, her skin on his skin, the taste of her lips, the way she had felt so damn right to him. And yet, it probably had been a bad idea to give in to that insane passion. Like a drug addict this one-day-stand had satisfied his needs for a couple of hours and now he only wanted more. Damon almost couldn't bear the emptiness that stretched inside of him since she had left. But if he gave in to this right now he soon would be following her around like a puppy, yapping at her side. He was disgusted with this image and yet he knew he didn't have the resistance to set his feelings aside completely.<p>

Maybe he just had to have her once again - his way this time.


	8. Chapter 8

**I'm sorry it took me so long to update, but this chapter is longer than the others, maybe that's a little consolation ;-) If you've been wondering about Josephine's past: This chapter contains some hints. Please, please review, I'm curious of what you all think! **

Josephine couldn't sleep. She was exhausted and tired, but she just couldn't. Every time she closed her eyes and drifted into unconsciousness, bad memories and pictures from her past threatened to overwhelm her, haunted her.  
>Faces of people she hadn't seen in a while, faces of people who were dead, who she would never see again. One face in particular.<br>People who were dead partly because of her. Her and her stupid sense of righteousness, justice and her nosiness.  
>Her heart-rate had once again climbed above 180.<p>

When she went downstairs to fix herself a stiff drink to make her head go dizzy and maybe forget all these fateful images, she heard the television blaring from the living room; Matt was watching a football-game. But as she retrieved a bottle of vodka from the fridge and turned around to get a glass from the shelf, she bumped right into him.

"Oh, hi" she breathed, a bad conscience gnawing at her. She had been really mean to him earlier.  
>"Hi," Matt answered back, still looking a little hurt.<p>

"Look, about before..." she started, but he threw his hands up in the air and interrupted:  
>"No, please - let me get some things straight! If you want to do what you want: Fine. Just don't expect me to be there, when you get into trouble. Liz trusts me with you and I want to keep you safe, because I feel responsible. I always feel responsible. Besides, this is my house. Either you like to have me as a friend - then don't complain if I get involved, or you just want us to be roommates, then it's all just polite and superficial conversation and nothing more. I don't care what you're doing, you keep out of my life and everything's fine. Just say the word!" He sounded tough-minded.<p>

Josephine didn't know what to say. She didn't want to hurt his feelings, but for her own and his sake she should have said: "Okay, then let's be just roommates." But she found she couldn't.

"Matt, don't think I'm ungrateful - I really do appreciate what you got yourself into by taking me in without really knowing what happened to me, what I've done. But I can't tell you everything I do or where I go all the time."  
>"I'm just asking you not to get involved in this town's business. You're right, I don't really know what happened to you, but I know that it must have been a lot to put you into witness-protection. And this is why I think you deserve a bit of safety here."<br>"Okay, so we kind of have the same reasons: I really like you and as pathetic as it may sound - you're the closest thing to a friend that I have right now. But there are things you don't know about me and that I can't tell you, because I want to keep you safe as well."  
>"I get that. But are you trying to tell me that these secrets you're talking about have anything to do with you disappearing last night and today? I don't think so."<br>Why did he see through her lies?

"But it's really not important," Josephine tried and cursed herself the moment the words came out of her mouth. She could've done better than that. Walking into the living room to get out of this conversation wasn't helping either.  
>Matt followed her and persisted: "If it's not that important: Just tell me where you where!"<br>She hesitated and wondered if he would just forget he asked if she kept quiet long enough, pretending to be interested in the football-game on tv. But that was just stupid and Matt was not an imbecile. He was still watching her with an expectant look on his face.  
>Maybe she could try being honest just this once: "I was with Damon Salvatore."<br>"What?" Matt gaped at her as if she was a madwoman. Josephine hurried to say something first:  
>"See, that's what I expected and that's why I didn't tell you."<br>"I told you to steer clear of fucking Damon Salvatore and what are you doing the first night we go out together?" Matt exclaimed.  
>"We just ran into each other and as you seem to know Damon a little, you should be aware of the fact that it's a bit difficult to steer clear of someone like that. At least when he's convinced he has to get to know you."<br>Matt just kept glaring at her.  
>"Nothing happened, we just - talked..." This contained a drop of the truth.<br>Josephine fiddled with the strings of her pjs. Internally she slapped herself. She had screwed up the first part of her plan big time - keep up the tough act, ha-bloody-ha.

Matt just took a deep breath to give her a piece of his mind, when they were both distracted by the breaking news on TV. A familiar picture of a crime-scene let Josephine hold her breath: "Two of the dead persons who had been found in the L.A. / Los Feliz house, now have been identified, thanks to DNA-tests. Their families were informed by the police yesterday. Almost two months ago the mansion, belonging to the head of the activist group 'CHANGE IT' was burned down by people still unknown. Up till now it was not possible to identify the third person. The only thing that can be said is that it was an approximately 28-year old male, white. The families of the two women, Faye Gardener and Rianne White finally could bury their daughters and say their goodbyes, after horrible weeks of uncertainty. The police also confirmed that the victims weren't just killed by the fire, but that a shooting must have taken place beforehand"

Matt just shook his head at the sight of so much violence, but Josephine's eyes had widened in horror while watching the news: She was watching her own funeral.

The people shown on TV, staring at a new shoveled grave were her parents and friends. Only she didn't lie in that coffin... But everybody thought she was, it should be the perfect camouflage, but to Josephine it felt like the ground had been pulled from under her feet. All her hopes to go back to her old life somehow, someday sooner or later, had been devastated in that exact moment. Officially she was dead!

Josephine shivered, although it was still pretty warm outside, even at 1 a.m. The Virginia summer nights had been sticky and hot so far. But she felt like she had walked right into an ice box. With shaking fingers she held on to the arm chair in front of her and tried to breathe easy. She was still staring at the TV screen, although Matt had turned it off. When he gently took her face in his hands he was back to his caring and affectionate self: "What is it? You look like you've seen a ghost."  
>Yeah, it seemed like she had seen the ghost of herself…<p>

* * *

><p><em>"I am terribly sorry Miss, but despite our best efforts – he did not make it through the first half hour. There was really nothing we could do," the doctor told her, looking concerned about how she would react to the bad news.<em>

_There was a moment of awkward silence in the hospital room she had just woken up in. The lump that had built up in her throat was a hard one to swallow, but she wasn't at all surprised by the news. She had known that this was about to happen the moment she got here, that it was completely hopeless._

_The doctor still looked at her, waiting for some emotional reaction to break through, but she held up her head and stared back at him, seemingly calm._ _"Do you want to see him?" he asked._ _"No!" was her simple answer, quick and resolute. He had hoped, even wished, she would say 'yes', because it would really be a start to help her get over this._ _"When can I get out of here?" she asked instead, causing him to shake his head disapprovingly: "Not so soon, we would like to observe you for a few days and I think maybe you should talk to someone about all this…"_ _"I don't need a shrink," she interrupted, "I'm totally fine." Her eyes were still locked on his, daring him out to look away first, which he eventually did to check her pulse: "No, you're not and you know that! You should try to sleep now and I'll talk to you again in the morning!"_ _"No, you'll not," she thought to herself but nodded her agreement to get him out of her room. There was just no way she was staying here any longer. She had to wait for the right moment to sneak out._

_Bad enough that she had to make this "pit-stop" anyway (jeez – she was being awfully cynical!). That way she had left too many traces already. Now she could not wait for the big honky, smelly anonymity that Los Angeles was, to swallow her. Then she had to get as far away as she could. __Probably the other side of the country…_

* * *

><p>Sheriff Forbes got Josephine a job at the local bookstore four days later. Josephine felt really happy about it. Finally she had some work to do and while no customers were present she could do all the research on the internet about her own death and some other facts. Shortly after the shock of learning that her real self was supposed to be dead, she had gotten pretty angry with Sheriff Forbes for not telling her. When confronted with this Liz just said that she didn't have a say in the matter, it was all for L.A. PD to decide what would be in the best interest of their witness. For the time being she just had to wait and see. Liz didn't even want to tell her what the police had found out so far.<p>

Josephine wasn't too amused to find her hands were tied – that she really ought to sit this one out, wait till the police found the real murderer and the storm blew over. But no such thing would happen while Josephine had the tiniest bit of hope she could satisfy her own thirst for revenge first.

After a short training phase by the shop-owner, dear 75year old Miss Dexter, Josephine got to work alone most of the time. And so she had plenty of time to think.

* * *

><p>She was just cleaning up the store on her third day, when she heard the doorbell jingle and someone walked into the sales room.<p>

"We're closed!" Josephine called from under the counter where she dusted off the shelves, when she heard a very familiar drawl from just behind her:  
>"Oh, what a shame. I heard this shop contained the first edition 'Gone with the wind' by Margaret Mitchell..."<p>

She wasn't surprised that he had come to find her again. Slowly she got up, the fine hairs on her neck standing up, her skin tingling just by his proximity. When she felt she had composed herself enough to face him, Josephine turned unhastily and answered his cool stare with a mock smile: "You took your time to come see me again!"  
>"I've been busy…" he answered with a lop-sided smile.<br>"Oh, I guess strictly vampire business…" she whistled in false awe.  
>"Why do I get the feeling you're making fun of me every time we meet? Is this something you call foreplay or…"<br>"No, I'm sorry if I come across rude… Would you like a cup of coffee?" Again she'd already pressed for two cups on the high-tech espresso-maker, before he made up his mind. She had to keep herself busy to keep from fainting. His aura had something overpowering.

"So, let's make a fresh start: Damon – you're a vampire… How's that been working out for you so far?" What was it with him that she always felt like arguing, teasing and making funny remarks? She quickly handed him a cup full to the brim with black caffeinated liquid.  
>While he was smiling at her question, Josephine went to lock up the shop-door from the inside and closed the blinds. Nobody needed to see her here with Damon, especially not Matt, if he decided to pick her up after work.<p>

"I fear it's a bad time to talk about how being a vampire has been working out for me, because honestly: Right now I'm fucked up as hell and it sucks not being able to die by jumping off a bridge or taking too many sleeping pills…" Damon was amazed to find he could be completely honest with her. He felt like shit today. More precisely he had for the last couple of weeks.

"If you're so upset you could just stake yourself… or I could do it, if you want! Is that why you came here?" Josephine sighed inwardly. What the hell was she talking about? She didn't want to stake him, it would be an overall crime to kill such a sexually skilled and gorgeous being. But as usual she had opened her mouth before weighing her words.

To her surprise Damon just grunted in amusement, obviously not believing her to be strong enough to stake him, and went on: "Yeah, you know that would not exactly be suicide as I'd like it to be. It just wouldn't be as dramatic, or even epic. And you know, there might be other days when I'm needed here to fight off people causing more trouble and bad things to happen than me. Imagine that! And sometimes I tend to enjoy life's advantages. Our little 'chit-chat'," he draw quotation marks into the air "in the library reminded me of how fascinating life as a vampire can be…"  
>He had moved across the room while talking and was standing right in front of her again. She watched his lips move and couldn't shake off the memory of what those lips had done to her the last time they'd met. Indescribable pleasure and pain, a craving she never knew before, the taste of danger and adventure. Josephine quivered blissfully.<p>

Yet she didn't know if she was up to it again. Her self-control and hard shell had begun to crack four days earlier in Matt's living-room and hadn't yet restored completely. She wouldn't give in to his fiery gazes too easily.  
>"So you thought you would stop by and refresh your memory?"<br>"Something like that," he smiled gamey.  
>"Sorry to disappoint you, but I'd rather file all the new books that have arrived today. Maybe another time." Josephine managed to make her voice sound indifferent and matter-of-factly. On the inside she was burning with longing to reach out and touch his exquisite features.<br>"Oh, so you weren't thunderstruck, overpowered, amazed by our sexual connection, love-making, nookie, intercourse – take your pick." Damon still smiled, but didn't know how to play her. She really seemed not interested.  
>"No!" Josephine laughed at his shocked expression caused by her firm answer and for the first time Damon saw and heard her laugh a genuine laugh. It took his breath away.<br>The way her face, especially her big baby blue eyes, lit up, her freckled nose wrinkled the slightest bit and the line of perfect sized white teeth that were to be seen… He lowered his gaze back to his cup of coffee, before he put it down on the counter.

Josephine tried to get some distance between them by pretending to put her empty cup of coffee into the sink.  
>"Can't stop thinking about you, doll!" Damon grabbed her by the hand and pulled her into him, when she tried to get past.<br>"Don't call me doll!" Josephine protested, but in a low voice.  
>"Okay, then how shall I call you? What do you want to be for me?" He tightened the grip around her waist, almost making her wince in slight pain. But she was then distracted by his nose rubbing over her throat and breathing her in with delight.<br>"What gives you the idea that I want to be anything for you?" Josephine was almost proud of her feisty answer. But Damon didn't rise to her bait. He just continued to caress her neck; seemingly determined to persuade her with actions, not words.

All her nerve ends were tingling in appreciation of his soft touches. Then she felt like she'd bumped into a wall, but only with her heart. Suddenly her body was full of a great emptiness, lonesome and cold. At the same time there was fatigue of fighting, the need to be distracted by something positive, and a desire to take comfort in someone. Of course Josephine had felt like this before, especially in the last few weeks, but right now these weren't her emotions.  
>Either she was going insane now, or… Josephine pushed Damon away, her fists resting on his chest, and looked at him intently. Damon was a bit confused. Even more so, when Jos then grabbed his face in her hands and fiercely kissed him. She deliciously sucked at his bottom lip and sought entrance with the tip of her tongue, and he granted it very willingly. He steadied her by entangling his hand in her wavy hair, soft as silk, and holding on to the back of her head.<br>Again there were stronger emotions bubbling up inside of Josephine, than her own. Satisfaction; a hunger to have more and more of a physical connection and something like slight relaxation. Josephine wasn't sure: Could those be Damon's feelings? And if they were: What the hell was wrong with her? Why could she receive his emotions every now and then? But just every time they touched, or when his lips touched her body?

While their kisses got more urgent and feverish, Josephine found this new connection shaped up to be an incredible turn-on. Damon was beginning to project an image of wild, brute concupiscence. Her own desire added up to it and somewhere along the way his and her longing blended into each other. It was unexplainable.

She dragged him with her into the backroom of the shop, full of boxes and packaging. While her lips never left his to not lose the sensation of being a heap of combined emotions, Josephine began ridding Damon and herself of their jeans and underwear. The sight of Damon's already hard and pulsating length caused her to shudder in anticipation of the things to follow. When she finally had to pull away from his lips to take a proper breather after what seemed like an eternity of passionate kissing and took off her shirt, Damon had a broad smile plastered on his face: "Are you still pretending you don't want to be anything for me, freckles?" he teased.  
>"Just, shut up and fuck me already!" she whispered hoarsely and winked at him. Damon had her lying on the floor in vampire speed.<p>

No more foreplay was needed really; they were ready to ignite just by looking into each other's dilated pupils and at their swollen and numb-kissed lips that found each other again and again.  
>Damon was winding her up, because he dipped the tip of his cock in and out of her instead of giving her his all. She sighed and wriggled against him both in irritation and unbearable hankering.<br>When Damon finally gave in with a little sadistic laugh, she was so sensitive, that it took her breath away; it was almost too much pleasure to take. As he moved in and out of her she couldn't stop moaning: "Oh – my – GOD….oah, Damon – fuck..."

Encouraged by her exquisite sounds, Damon sped on. He was fucking her full frenzy; even if he wanted to he could never have stopped now. He was used to women craving his body, not only when compelled by him. But they always bowed and scraped to his demands. In her hungry eyes, that rolled back in her head every time he changed his rhythm to wind her up more and more, he could see no fear, no servility. She was equally in charge. Her body responded to him so well because she allowed it to. She wanted him because she felt like it, not because Damon wanted her to.

Josephine wrapped her legs tighter around Damon's waist. He had driven her to those heady heights of spectacular, mind-blowing orgasm before, she knew Damon could do it again and she wanted him to so badly. He had made her forget how much her life sucked right now and what a mess it all was, how she didn't know how to get on and what to make of it. It was heaven to drown in his touches and the sensation of having his perfect body ravage her willing one.

Just for a moment he slowed down and shook his head, when he looked up into her eyes; incredulously: "Why aren't you afraid of me?" he panted while thrusting on and taking another arousing nib at her bottom lip.  
>"Why, should I be? Why aren't you afraid of me? Now will you get on with it? You're about to leave me high and dry here," she just answered back and chuckled slightly.<br>"Oh, we certainly wouldn't want that…" he growled and picked up speed again, burying his face in the soft mould between her breasts.  
>Josephine saw white stars of electrifying bliss blinking behind her eyes when she closed them for just a second or two.<p>

When Damon came in her his mind went just blank, Josephine received no more images of demanding, insatiable hunger, just pure and almost quiet tension-release and liberation, something that felt close to deliverance.  
>His hoarse cry echoed in the tiny room. Witnessing his face suddenly change, blood-shot, veined eyes boring into hers, his fangs extending just the slightest bit, made Josephine shudder with a cataclysmic explosion, too.<p>

For the second time Damon found he had lost himself in a complete stranger. It wasn't like him to let go completely, to let himself float on the waves of emotions, even not during orgasm. It scared and excited him at the same time.

"Could you do that again please…," Josephine smirked, when Damon had rolled off of her.  
>"Which part?" Damon gasped, still recovering.<br>"The thing with your face…"  
>"You really are freaking unafraid!" He rolled on his side to look her in the eyes. A smile playing at the corner of his mouth.<br>"I think it was rather enormously sexy." She stretched her long legs beside him; hooking one ankle over Damon's firm butt, pulling him closer to her.  
>"What's in it for me?"<br>"A drop of blood…" In a mixture of daring herself and something close to lunacy, she offered him her wrist. Damon noticed that it wasn't the one with the small tattoo he had yet to examine more closely. He raised one eyebrow and brought her palm up to his mouth. But instead of biting her there he licked over her pulse, feeling the veins pulsating beneath his tongue, the beating thumping in his ears made it unspeakably hard for him to restrain himself. Josephine held her breath and waited anxiously. She was so curious how it would feel, if it would hurt or... Right now the flicker of his tongue against her tender skin woke the throbbing between her legs again.

"Maybe we have to choose another part of that body of yours. We wouldn't want dear cousin Matty to get suspicious would we?" With a last tiny peck on her wrist he let go of her arm.  
>"Take your pick! You're the expert," she said lightly. If only he knew what sort of un-cousinly things Matt and she had been doing a few nights before.<br>Damon scraped over her skin with his normal teeth and sought a more private spot on her. In this sticky summer weather there were only a few areas that weren't exposed for everyone to see these days. He wondered if she was more the bikini or the one-piece type of girl.  
>Eventually he settled for the artery next to her hip-bone. Thereby he noticed a relatively fresh scar just left under her belly button. But he didn't pay attention to it long enough. Now that he'd been allowed to taste her, he couldn't possibly wait any longer. Josephine just felt a short sting and then Damon's moaning mouth against her flesh.<p>

The copper liquid of hers flowed into his mouth like fresh syrup. Damon controlled it with the tip of his tongue, lapping against the wound his fangs had caused. His taste-buds were fully alerted. It had been a long time since he had something excellent like it before. Her blood tasted like a warm summer evening, humid and almost bloomy, yet spicier. Like that very own scent of hers that had caught his attention when he first saw her.  
>Damon had been taught once to take just a little at a time and he could follow the rules, but other than Josephine it had only ever been with Elena that he'd had to try so hard to act upon them. He felt himself hardening again, Josephine's grip on his shock of hair getting firmer.<p>

"This is just so crazy!" Josephine giggled and Damon withdrew, now pressing his thumb to the wound. She had to fight hard not to break out into hysterical laughing. Again she was hit by the thought that all this was just too obscure to be true. But Damon's serious voice brought her back to reality: "If you were a wine I'm sure people would pay an awful lot of money to get a bottle of yours," he licked the last remains of her fruity life-source off his still prickling lips.  
>Josephine fell silent, realizing what just had happened.<br>Damon got to his feet pulling her up with him.  
>"I could get used to this…" he absentmindedly stroked her suntanned arm and liked the effect his touch had on the fine hairs growing there, raising up to his caressing fingertips.<br>"Maybe we should make this a secret habit of ours…" she said more doughty than she felt.  
>"Why does it have to be secret exactly?" Damon raised one eyebrow.<br>"I like the thrill of it…" she grinned at him slyly and kissed him hard on the mouth once, before she bent down to collect her clothes: "And of course I just want your bloody body and not a whole love story."  
>"Of course, who would possibly want to get messed up in stupid and dramatic relationships here?"<p>

Just his kind of girl, he thought.


	9. Chapter 9

**AN: It's been a while again, but I'm glad to see that people are still reading my story. I had to give it a break to see where I'm going with this. I hope you continue following Josephine on her way into Mystic Falls' "supernatural society".  
><strong>**I have settled for mid-season 3 now in the general storyline, but with free alterations. I'm sure you'll notice or you already did... But it's still: Tyler and Jer are gone and all the Original siblings are out there. **

**This is probably not the most fascinating chapter, but it's necessary as a bridge to what is coming next! **

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own 'The Vampire Diaries'!**

* * *

><p><em>She woke up and was still bleeding, she could feel it. The warm liquid ran down her legs, slowly soaking its way through her pants. Right now she was extremely glad that they were black and long. <em>

_She had not intended to fall asleep – you never knew what these truckers where up to – but somewhere along the way she had felt so weary and sore, her eyes burning with held back tears and exhaustion. She had just wanted to give them a little rest._

_Her hand slowly wandered to the little pocket in her jacket and she was pretty relieved to feel that the bundle of money she had put there before was still where it belonged. Normally she never would have taken that much cash with her, but not knowing when to ever use her bank account again without risking anything had not left her any other options. So she had taken pretty much everything she had last night. Last night… She moved uncomfortably. She still wasn't able to remember everything, and she didn't want to either. She had to keep focused._

_"Had a good sleep?" The scruffy trucker had noticed by now that his pale passenger was awake again.  
><em>_"Yeah, thank you. Where are we?"  
><em>_"Pretty much as far as Indianapolis. I'm having a stop for like two hours. D'you want me to take you any further? My next stop would be Delaware/Ohio."_

_Fuck, still like 2.444 miles to go._ _She was pretty sure he was a good guy, but who knew? In order to leave as few traces as possible it would be necessary to change cars, trucks, vehicles as often as she could. It would be even better if she got a car herself, but she didn't have the money for that. At least not until she knew how things would work out for her on the other side of the country._ _In addition to that she had noticed with horror that her blood was dripping to the floor by now. She really hoped he didn't see it, so that she could clean up the mess when she got out of the truck at the next gas station. Then she'd probably have to search for a toilet to do some damage control._

_"Thanks, but no thanks. I think I'm gonna take another ride up north, maybe Detroit, instead."  
><em>_"I'm sure you'll find someone who will be pleased to take you!"  
><em>_He gave her a not so innocent smile that gave her the creeps. Good that she told him the wrong directions; no one was to be trusted!_

_She then stuck to her plan of regularly changing driver's, telling every one of them a different story. She even tried to look different, always changing her clothes and hairdos on the stops in between. Maybe she tried too hard and it wasn't worth all the trouble because a) the truckers wouldn't talk about their road tripping people anyway or b) there were details she forgot that would give her away or c) she was worrying way too much._ _More likely she was getting nuts over this. The only relief was that her blood loss seemed to have stopped increasing and even if she still felt a little weak she now knew that she would not all of a sudden fall unconscious and never wake up again._

* * *

><p>Elena reluctantly left Stefan behind at the boardinghouse, to pay a visit to the barbecue at the Lockwood swim-whole, organized by Caroline and Bonnie. Her friends had wanted to create a sphere where everybody could just forget for once that it didn't always have to be gloom and doom in Mystic Falls. No vampires allowed besides of course Caroline as organizer of the whole thing. Stefan had claimed he was more than happy to be left out for once.<p>

As Elena was just about to leave the house, Damon strode into the hall.  
>"Oh, going somewhere?" he mockingly raised one of his sharp eyebrows.<br>"Yeah, but I'm sorry to say: Humans only!"  
>She couldn't answer him in a normal voice, she always found herself being bitchy when he looked at her like that.<br>Damon pouted: "Hm, I guess then poor Stef has to feel himself all evening, how sad. Watch out – if you leave him now he might do a runner again and search for someone he can sacrifice his ripper self to again!"  
>"Very funny Damon!" She stepped out into the front yard, evading to get too close to him, as she passed him by.<br>"I'm just saying: I'd hate to say I told you so!" he whistled in her direction.

Elena sadly watched as Damon closed the door behind him, almost into her face. She really wished they could talk sanely to one another again. But all the sparks between them, their witty banter, their mental connection, their care for each other had turned into sour conversations and snarky comments, full of hurt and disappointment. She still hadn't figured out how they could stop this downwards-spiral of their friendship. In a way she knew it was her own fault. She had encouraged his hopes and shattered them with one vital decision. But how and when could she have acted differently? In the end she had been a victim of her contradictory feelings for both brothers.

When she arrived at the barbecue there were many people already, jumping into the water or relaxing in the shadows with a cool beer. Elena scanned the crowd. Apart from the obvious gang she also found Matt's cousin, Josephine play-fighting with him in the water. Lately she had been too engrossed in her own drama to really pay attention of the development between her and Matt. It seemed that they were getting along pretty well. She had to give her credit for her eye-catching pink bikini, her svelte curves and radiant smile.  
>But for all she knew Damon again had had his hands on her already! This was another argument against him! How could she, Elena, ever have chosen to be with a womanizing philanderer?<p>

"Hey girl, what are you looking at?" Caroline interrupted her thoughts and emerging anger.  
>"Just our new town member…" Elena tried to sound nonchalant.<br>"You sound so quizzical…" Caroline winked at her and pushed a can of beer in Elena's hand.  
>"Aren't you suspicious that Matt suddenly has a cousin nobody knew about before?"<br>"Even if I am, I think it's great for him that he's got her. Look at him, he's all happy and… You know, Matt doesn't have many people to talk to anymore and that's been hard on him. Harder than he would ever admit to any of us, because we all have our "supernatural business" to care about, as he likes to point out. I want him to be happy in spite of all the mysterious things going on. And if that's because of Josephine, I love her for it! He's one of the only humans left in our circle of friends and ever since he's had to let Vicky go for a second time he's been broken. It also frees me of my bad conscience for leaving him to be with his best friend, who now left me to get rid of someone's sire bond, but that's a different story…"  
>Elena couldn't quite get herself to join in Caroline's praises and only passively listened to what her friend was going on about. But she tried to enjoy herself in spite of her qualm.<p>

At first it all went really well, but then it turned out to be a "normal" barbecue that somehow attracted THE ORIGINAL HYBRID Klaus. Caroline was furious with him that he'd turned up, disturbing their little peace, but she couldn't get him to leave the scenery.

For Josephine it was the first time she saw the town's most feared villain. From Matt's description she had imagined him to be some ugly felon type. To her surprise she found him both handsome and civilized. All the time that Caroline insulted him for intruding her private party Klaus smiled at her, showing off dimples that would have been absolutely adorable on every other man. Maybe he was threatening someone's life or Caroline just didn't have the courage to pick a real fight with him, either way: Klaus stayed and made conversation with everyone, seemingly unaware of his role in the town's vampire war. She guessed that this upper-class attitude was at least one of his weapons.  
>Sometimes he looked Josephine's way throughout the afternoon, but other than that he left her alone.<p>

She was just glad that Damon hadn't turned up. Josephine had been dodging his calls and texts all week. Probably this hadn't been a very wise move, but although she had played the tough one on their last meet, right now she couldn't handle him. He distracted her with his sheer existence and every thought of him made her head go cloudy and mushy. And she needed to stay focused on her own mission.

Matt was show-jumping into the water with Bonnie and Josephine observed everything from a safe distance. She had learned a lot more about the vampire-history of the town and the relationships between the different people. This was due to her working on a better relationship with Matt. After their dispute she had decided that she had to have him on her side and that she had to try harder to make him believe that she would forget about her old life and do her best to fit into Mystic Falls and her existence as his cousin. Pretending to struggle with adjusting into her new life was okay for the time being, but she had to make him believe that she eventually would settle down. She reminded herself that Matt was in a similar situation: He hadn't volunteered to be her "guardian" and anchor. All the information he had gotten from Liz Forbes had been something like "I have someone here that could really use your help". Matt being Matt just hadn't been able to say no to that and now he was kind of stuck with her.

After a long talk they had spent their evenings together cooking dinner. Matt had begun to like her company and the fact that a woman for once took care of him. With an all-time absent Mum and a dead "ghost-sister" he was a burnt child really.

In addition to this Josephine had even asked Matt to take her on his work outs, which he gladly agreed to. They went for a run almost every second morning or evening, when the air was just mildly sticky, thereby having another opportunity to chat about their likes and dislikes. She still hated to lie about details of her past to him, but it was necessary. He already had enough on his plate with this crazy town's stuff, she wouldn't burden him with her true story.  
>Being here now with his friends was still kind of weird, as everybody treated her kindly, but as "the new girl" and thus asked all kinds of questions.<p>

That way it didn't surprise her, when Elena suddenly sat down next to her. Josephine had seen that coming all day. She had avoided being alone with Elena, because she could have sworn from the looks that the doe-eyed girl threw in her direction all day she wanted a private conversation. Right now Josephine hadn't been quick enough to make her escape. She didn't yet know why, but she was suspicious of Elena. And everything in this town seemed to evolve around her.

"Hi, Josephine, right? Are you having a good time?"  
>"Yeah, thanks for asking."<br>Josephine had to admit that Elena looked quite stunning, her ultra-short jeans-bermudas showing off her slender legs, her hair neatly combed and falling over her narrow shoulders in a glossy hot-chocolate wave.  
>"How come Matt never mentioned you before?"<br>Okay, so Elena was someone who liked to get to the point. Josephine smiled warmly at her and made a dismissive gesture:  
>"Ah, you know Matt – he doesn't like to brag with his dad's side of the family so much."<br>"Actually I don't know anything about his dad's side of the family. Even when we were together he never talked about it." Elena pondered this for a moment.  
>"See," Josephine cheerfully waved at Matt, who was just looking in their direction, a trace of concern showing in his forehead.<br>"And how come you're suddenly living with him?"  
>Josephine had a feeling that Elena had asked Matt the same questions before, so she stuck to the story they had both come up with in the beginning.<br>"Oh, it's a bit dramatic in fact. I was forced to move somewhere foreign, because I've got serious issues with my eccentric ex-boyfriend… Some things happened and I had to get away from him. You know, my family and I moved around quite a lot, my father's a diplomat. Matt and I pretty much never saw each other, we just occasionally met at family reunions. But I always liked him and we somehow kept in touch over the years. And now that I practically knew nowhere to hide from this lunatic ex, he offered me to stay with him for a while."  
>"Oh, I see. Matt's always been the good guy. You're lucky!"<br>"I know. I really appreciate that." Minutes of silence followed. Josephine turned her face to the sun, closing her eyes and hoping that Elena's inquisition was done. But there was one question still hanging in the air:  
>"And what was the deal with Damon the other day?"<br>So that was it what Elena really wanted to know, Josephine smiled to herself. Gotcha!  
>"Oh, we got off on the wrong foot, but I think we settled that…" she answered vaguely, but in a tone that didn't allow any further questioning.<br>"Yeah, that's what it sounded like…" Elena stretched her words and watched her closely.

Josephine was proud of herself. She'd sounded determined and had got all her stories right. She would have almost believed them herself. Some things weren't even that far stretched from the truth. If she'd felt even more confident she would have bluntly asked Elena what her deal with Damon was, why she was interested in the matter, but she kept her mouth shut for the time being.

As the sun set Josephine went searching for Matt, who had disappeared from the group. Slowly she walked away from the swim-whole and deeper into the woods that surrounded it. She stalled when she suddenly heard two people talking in low voices, only a few meters away from where she was standing.  
>"I just had to see you, you can't blame me for that."<br>"But if someone suspects something, this won't end well for any of us…"  
>"I don't care – right now I just want to have you, sweetheart…"<br>Josephine couldn't see a thing because it was already so dark between the trees, but she couldn't mistake the accent of that male voice and the peppy note in the female one.  
>This was a real twist, she thought. She directly made her retreat, hoping that these two were momentarily engaged into something else than noticing loose branches cracking under someone's feet. She might keep her knowledge to herself for now, don't get involved.<p>

Back at the barbecue Matt had sat down next to Elena, his voice almost a little slurry because of the amount of beer he'd shipped all afternoon. Taking in the way he looked at his ex-girlfriend, the way his eyes never left her lips when she spoke, Josephine knew she had to get him out of here. A little complaint about how she was tired and that everyone was leaving, had him back on his feet and in the backseat of his truck.  
>Matt had to hold on to Josephine's waist, when they got out of the car and stepped into the house.<p>

In the kitchen she sat Matt down on one of the chairs and prepared a prophylactic aspirin with orange-juice for him, but then she couldn't hold back any longer:  
>"Matt, please say that you aren't still hung up on both of your exes!" All day she had again and again been aware of inclinatory glances both in Caroline's and Elena's direction. Towards Caroline they conveyed slightly more hurt feelings whereas Matt's tie to Elena was something consistent of worship and safeguarding.<p>

"Let's say, that – yes, maybe. It's sad really, I know. You could distract me…" he slurred and caught her hand in his. Josephine allowed it to happen, although she didn't have any intentions of repeating their one-night stand just now: "But, it'll be just a secret sexual consolation. To the outer world I'm still your cousin, you can't date me officially!"  
>"Yeah, but right now – I don't care. We had a boozy barbecue and you're sexy…" Matt drew her closer to him, nuzzling his face into her still barely covered stomach. She curled her fingers into his soft hair and let him down gently: "I think tonight you wouldn't even make it through getting your clothes off probably. And I don't do near-comatose sex with younger men…"<br>"I like you…" he sighed and almost passed out there and then. Josephine didn't feel like dragging him all the way up to the second floor, so she put him down on the living-room couch and let him sleep it off.

* * *

><p>Getting Matt on her side went well so far. What didn't was the amount of information Josephine got out of Liz Forbes. She interviewed the sheriff on a regular basis about how the investigation of her case was going, but Liz kept being really dodgy about the matter. Josephine found herself having to tighten her measures to get what she wanted to know.<p>

Her nightmares were beginning to wear her out. It was bad enough that she had to deal with them at night, so she spent her days working like a maniac. Poor Mrs. Dexter couldn't really keep up with all the new ideas Josephine presented to her, to turn the bookshop into a prosperous business.

Today it seemed that she should once again have a chance to meet another supernatural inhabitant of this town. When she got up in the morning she found a letter from Matt:  
>"Jos, this is where we'll be tonight: Tyler's back and he's having a party – remember what I told you about him? We absolutely have to be there! I wouldn't want to miss it if I were you: free drinks, dancing, an occasion to wear something nice and some uncertainty as to what else is going to happen. Be ready to get started at eight – I'm counting on you to represent the humans in this town alongside me!"<p>

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><p><strong>So, what do you think? Big Tyler return coming soon!<strong>


	10. Chapter 10

**In the tradition of the Vampire Diaries: There's always a dance where something's about to happen, changing plotlines etc. I couldn't possibly write a story without a dance myself, so here it goes: **

Damon arrived at Tyler's "Welcome Back"-bash pretty pissed off. He followed the invitation really more to keep an eye out for Klaus and his little sister Rebekkah, than to happily welcome Tyler back. Okay, he was a tiny bit curious if Tyler really had found a way to rid himself of the sire bond to Klaus, but that wasn't really the main problem here.

Mainly Damon was pissed off because they all, Stefan, Elena, Bonnie, Alaric and Caroline had tried to find something to make this bad dream come to an end. To find a way of killing the Originals, who were since the ball at Klaus' mansion bound by a spell. If one of them died, everyone died. But instead of pulling through with her plan to extinct her own children the original witch Esther had been stopped by Elijah, of all people. He'd been the only one they had counted to halfway on their side. Now Kol, Finn and Elijah had disappeared to God-knows-where, their mother Esther was also somehow gone – nobody knew if dead or alive. Apart from that the original siblings were still linked, they were back to square one. Because how else could an Original die than through the wood of a white-oak-tree that had been burned down long time ago and whose only left-over had been destroyed along with Mikael?

Damon was tired of twisting his brain as to how else they could destroy Klaus, who had not only brought his hybrid breeds into town, but also strolled the streets as if they belonged to him, making friends with the mayor and the town council. Not knowing what he had up her sleeve made him angry as hell.  
>Last, but not least, Josephine had been avoiding him all week. She hadn't answered any of his calls and texts and the one time he went up to the bookstore, Mrs. Dexter told him that she had just left. At Matt's nobody had opened the door, although he'd heard someone move inside of the house.<br>At some point he didn't want to seem too desperate and stopped calling her, but his frustration grew. And then he had coincidentally seen her last night in the backyard of the police station…

Damon stepped through the back-door out on the patio, grabbing a glass of champagne as a waiter passed by.  
>Out in the garden were a thousand lights, candles and lanterns, alighting the party-scene Tyler had created. He had gone through a lot of effort to throw a party no one would forget that easily. There were probably one hundred people dancing in front of the backdrop of a little lake that glittered in the moonlight. It seemed like Mr. Lockwood had invited half the town.<p>

Tyler himself was nowhere to be seen. This was a good thing, Damon thought. If he'd be confronted with him, he most likely couldn't have held back a comment like:  
>"Hey, how's your sire-bond going?"<br>He scanned through the crowd. Everybody seemed to have an amazing time. It was ridiculous really. One of Klaus' hybrid breeds returned and they were having a party.

Stefan & Elena were also amongst the dancers. Most likely Elena had dragged the reluctant younger Salvatore along to move and observe the crowd from the core for something dangerous to happen. That was all they ever did, Damon realized. He couldn't remember the last time they had gone to a festivity without being concerned to who might end up dead on the dance-floor.  
>Elena looked perfect. Her dark-blue sparkly dress not too long and not too short, showing off exactly the right amount of olive skinned slim leg. Her hair was scraped back in a high ponytail, swinging around her face as she moved, her brown eyes smiling into Stefan's lovingly.<br>Damon wanted to throw up every time he was aware of their emotional bond. As if everything that had happened between Elena and him meant nothing at all. As if it hadn't been there; had never even existed. At this stage it was back to day one for him with this girl.

He downed his drink in one and made to search for another one, when someone else out on the dance-floor caught his eye. Someone in a flowery pink dress, twirling barefoot over the grass, curly hair held back by a green headband. Her eyes were also smiling into someone else's. Klaus'! Right now she laughed at something he'd just said, throwing her head back and showing a lot of white teeth and healthy pink gum. Klaus must be very funny indeed.  
>Damon felt his anger rising to an almost unbearable amount. This time he didn't stay back, he stepped down the stairs onto the lawn. He couldn't do a thing about Elena and Stefan, but he sure as hell could claim Josephine back from Klaus. In the end he had the better moves.<p>

* * *

><p>Matt had gotten tired of dancing pretty soon and left her alone to get them something to drink and search for Tyler, who nobody had officially seen, yet.<br>She didn't care dancing on her own. She'd always loved feeling music with her heart, body and soul, being completely oblivious of her surroundings. Besides she didn't stay alone for long. While Caro Emerald's song 'A night like this' came on someone suddenly grabbed her hand which was mid-swing around herself, and pulled her up against him:  
>"I think we haven't officially met!" A tuneful voice with a strong accent disturbed her rhythm for a moment. But then she reminded herself she had to handle this one offensively:<br>"Is that so?" She looked him deep into those sea-coloured eyes.  
>"I'm afraid yes. Terribly rude of Matt to keep you away from me for so long. My name's Klaus, nice to meet you."<br>He slightly bowed his head, smiling at her politely, while extending his hand. Josephine decided to grab it firmly:  
>"Josephine, my pleasure to make your acquaintance, sir!"<br>She mocked his manners just the tiniest bit by dropping a curtsy and letting him kiss the top of her hand. Why did she always do this? Everybody had told her to steer clear of Klaus, but it was the same as with Damon. The more she was warned off, the more she wanted to give it a go herself. And what else should she have done, now that he had come to her for whatever reason? Mimicking the frightened little girl in front of the "oh-so-bad" vampire didn't seem a better solution compared to standing up to him. Hopefully she didn't go too far this time. In the end she knew Damon was nothing compared to Klaus and what he was obviously capable of, if you didn't act according to his plans. But when she got up she saw his eyes sparkle with mischief.  
>"I see we are on the same page. Do you happen to know how to dance a rumba?"<br>"Actually I do."  
>Who knew that the dancing lessons she had cursed her mother for in the past, now would eventually pay off? Klaus led her into a standard-dancing position and now Josephine experienced what truly 'leading a lady' meant. What else could she expect from a man who had probably already lived when this dance was invented? He swirled her around on the dance-floor as if they had never done anything else in their lives. And still he found time and breath to make a little chitchat:<br>"You caught my eye at the barbecue."  
>"The barbecue you obviously weren't invited to…."<br>Klaus just smiled sweetly. To keep herself fleeing from the situation that was getting a bit difficult to handle, she kept up the talking:  
>"So, do you always like to do what you want?"<br>"Yeah, I actually don't like being told what to do, so – I think I don't have too many friends…"  
>"You could just compel yourself some…" Why did she have to do that? Couldn't she be fake-nice to him for just a second? Her big mouth would be the death of her some day.<br>But seemingly not just yet:  
>"Quite the sassy one, I enjoy that," Klaus nodded appreciatively, while twirling her around quite forcefully.<br>"But I think real friendship is a godsend. Well, well: It seems like you know all about me then. I guess Matt's done his homework keeping everyone around him informed about the terrible villains in this sweet little town." He kept his eyes on hers, still smiling.  
>"I like your accent…" Josephine tried something near to nice, getting on safer ground.<br>"Thank you, I think I just like you."

When the song was over, Klaus bowed to her again:  
>"Thank you for the dance – it was wonderful. You're quite twinkle-toed, my lady. Now if you'll excuse me, I have somewhere else to be right now."<br>Thankfully he vanished without her having to force him to leave her alone. If there even was a chance in hell she could ever have done that. There was a fine line between daring herself to stand up to an original vampire and getting herself into real trouble. Still Josephine found it kind of exhilarating.

She again decided just to dance like hell and completely ignore the encounter with Klaus. An up-tempo number got her absorbed and she gave as good as she got. And again she was interrupted by a voice breathing something into her ear from quite a different direction:  
>"You turn me on so much," drawled an irresistible combination of captivating aftershave and rising libido. His voice alone made her shudder and the hairs on her neck stand on end. She'd almost forgotten what he could do to her. Her heart stopped beating, at least it felt like that, and she had to force herself to keep breathing, while Damon's warm chest pressed into her back and his hands grabbed her hips firmly from behind. He started to circle them to the beat, moving his pelvis along with silky-smooth fluidity.<br>Although she almost didn't want to, their bodies soon rotated together in alarming unison. Once she had turned around to face him and relish the sight of his beautiful face, his hands slipped over the outside of her upper thighs (almost stroking bare flesh through the thin fabric of her dress), just as hers were creeping round the tight muscles of his through dress pants. They couldn't possibly keep their respectable distance.

The moment Damon was so close to her again he knew why he had been so irritated by her neglect over the last week. Her presence, her special scent, the confidence she radiated made him drown and blend out his own head-carousel completely. There was only one warm feeling, longing, but no real thoughts for once. She was his piece of pure escapism. It frightened Damon that he already felt so strong about her. He had to force himself to snap out of this thrilling daze.

With sudden roughness, the fingers of his left hand wound themselves through Josephine's and pulled her hand down to her stomach, twisting her around and dragging her body into his until she could only move as he moved. He had her trapped.  
>"I saw you last night!" Damon suddenly said close to her ear.<br>The heat of his breath against the back of her damp neck and his still circling hips in her upper bottom were slightly distracting her from what he was saying. But something in her subconscious told her that he was up to no good.  
>"Did you now?" she asked, trying to make her voice sound less shaky than her legs felt.<br>"Wanna tell me what you were doing, sneaking round the police department all secretive… Where you planning to help someone break out of jail or…?"  
>"I wasn't there."<br>Right now Josephine was really glad, that he couldn't look into her eyes, she guessed they would have given away that she was lying. Shit! What had he been doing there last night? But of course she couldn't ask him this.  
>"Oh, please… I may be dead - technically, but I'm not dumb, deaf or blind," Damon insisted.<br>Josephine had to try again: "And I think you mistook me for someone else – I wasn't out on the streets last night. Ask Matt! I've been working, eating dinner and then sleeping like a baby…" If only she ever would. She almost sighed at the thought of a good-night's sleep. Josephine knew Matt would never talk to Damon about her whereabouts anyway, so it was tolerably safe to use him as her alibi. In fact it was kind of true, exept for her climbing out of the window in the middle of the night.  
>"But I said: I saw you last night." Damon pressed their entwined hands even firmer into her belly.<br>"And I said: It wasn't me." He would give up eventually. He just had to!  
>"And what were you talking about with Klaus just now?"<br>At this point Damon jerked her around again, bringing them into a position where his face was only inches from hers apart. Josephine almost went cross-eyed when she tried to focus on his explorative pupils.  
>"Oh, you know: Just gossip!"<br>Josephine moved away slightly and smiled at him obligingly, twirled out of Damon's grip and at last left the dancing scenery.

* * *

><p>Damon hadn't been the only one to notice Josephine's "conversation" with Klaus. Matt watched her from a distance, talking to Alaric.<p>

"What's she doing laughing with Klaus like he's an old friend? I told her to..."  
>"Leave it Matt. It looked like she got everything under control. Could be an advantage, if he's got the hots for another one of us."<br>"What do you mean?" Matt hesitated.  
>"I mean he obviously has a thing for Caroline." Alaric sipped his drink, only noticing too late that he'd told Matt what he probably didn't want to know.<br>"What makes you say that?" Matt was dumbstruck. Klaus and Caroline? No way! But he dared not asking any further questions about the matter. He was sure he didn't want to hear it. Instead he just had to witness another thing developing that he wasn't too happy about. When Alaric kept silent und stared ominously at his near-empty glass, Matt got even more in a lather:  
>"And now she's practically humping with Damon Salvatore on the dance-floor. I mean what the fuck? She's just misbehaving to one up me. It's having to look after Vicky all over again!" It felt like he had been living with a completely different person over the last week. If that was what keeping a low profile meant to Josephine, he didn't want to know what acting out looked like. He just shouldn't have left her all to herself there.<br>But Alaric didn't agree: "I don't know her, but I think you're wrong. She's no Vicky, she knows how to handle herself and in my eyes she's quite capable of taking on Klaus and Damon, playing them at their own game of wicked seduction!"  
>In fact he admired her spiritedness.<p>

* * *

><p>Oh shit, Damon had seen her. This wasn't good.<br>Josephine definitely needed more to drink. She made a lunge for the bar on the patio.  
>She'd been a fool to think that she could get away with this. Okay, she hadn't really done anything forbidden, at least not yet, but anyway… she was about to do something forbidden.<br>Last night she'd finally had had enough of Liz' secretiveness. Something about the way she acted, every time Josephine asked about her case, gave away that there was something happening. Something possibly bad, that she wanted to keep from her protégé. This was not how it was supposed to be. Josephine had wanted to find another way of getting information, thus spying on the routines, the operational sequences of the local police station. She hoped to find a loophole to get access to her own files. She could better handle this on her own, somehow...  
>"What are you thinking about?" Damon breathed into her ear. He couldn't stay away for long. He had caught up with her, just as she was sipping her third Martini in a row, leaning against the bar and struggling to decide what to do  how to act, next. Okay, he obviously was also in a flirty mood. Maybe a bit sexual interaction, attention and peppy talking would work and he would forget about asking her again concerning her whereabouts of last night.  
>"Guess," she thus murmured, more into her glass than in his direction.<br>"Say what now?" he yelled over the beat of some techno-beats that the dj seemingly thought refreshing for this party.  
>Josephine struggled to spin around and gripped his trouser waistband with her fingers.<br>"Guess," she breathed into his mouth, only slowly averting her eyes from his inviting lips to sink into Damon's fiery gaze out of icy-blue pupils.  
>"Fucking me," he murmured back, wrapping the strap of her dress around his index finger playfully. His other hand explored the naked skin on her shoulder with feathery touches of his fingertips.<br>Josephine smiled. This gained him an A+ for conceit, easing the all-over-shivering his fondling had caused a little bit.  
>"No." Although this was a half-lie.<br>"Kissing me," Damon leant closer into her mouth, his tongue starting to dart.  
>"No," Josephine leant away and eyed him lazily. He was just where she wanted him.<br>"What then?" he snapped grumpily.  
>"I was actually thinking of hooking up with your brother, he's kind of cute…" she tilted her head in the direction where Stefan and Elena were now also leaving the dancing crowd.<br>Damon cocked his head in amusement. "You don't mean that!"  
>She slipped her hand around his neck and, leaning against him, so that the length of her body slid against his, whispered into his ear: "Wait and see, Damon."<br>Josephine turned and walked away, grabbing two glasses of champagne in her wake, her face burning, heart hammering.  
>It was kind of mean, but she had to keep him at bay. If he kept touching her like that she would jump him right there and then. And this was not how far she wanted to go this time.<p>

Next thing she knew Matt grabbed her arm, demanding to know what the hell she was doing with these men. Josephine decided to smile vaguely and hand him her spare glass of champagne to keep him busy. Elena joined them to consciously whisper something to Matt and so did Damon at some point, already bored by the little action that took place - apart from the fact that the man of honor, Tyler, was still mysteriously missing his own bash. Damon kept his distance this time, maybe thanks to Matt's presence. He just stood there, seemingly observing every person at this event with his piercing stare. He was behaving kind of boring, Josephine thought, but she kept quiet about it, because this was obviously better than having him inquisitioning her again.

It was the first time she saw Elena and Damon together; felt the tension between them lingering in the air. She just knew all about their relationship (or no-relationship) from Matt's stories, but everyone could sense that these two had serious issues with or/and about each other.  
>Two people who once had blindly trusted and confided in each other, now afraid to look each other in the eyes frankly. A friendship now poisoned by betrayal, hurt, trust issues and jealousy. Josephine almost felt a little poetic about her thoughts.<br>But when Matt left for the loo, she didn't last five minutes alone with these two: Being in the middle of the icy silence between Damon and Elena was more than she could bear that night:  
>"Jeez, YOU TWO have a lot to talk about! I wish I could get a word in…"<br>She made her escape to the dance-floor once again, where she didn't have to try too hard to have a good time. Somehow she just did. Maybe the amount of champagne and Martini that had gone down her throat helped a little, but other than that she was just feeling carefree tonight.

Someone tapped her on the shoulder and when Josephine turned she looked into two wide, soulful green eyes, belonging to no other than Stefan Salvatore.  
>"May I have this dance?" he courteously asked.<br>Josephine just nodded and let him take her by the hand, curious as to what he might want from her. Seemingly her dance-card was full of vampires tonight. But Stefan didn't leave her guessing too long why he had wanted to dance with her:  
>"What are you up to with my brother, what are you and my brother up to? Or what is my brother up to with you – how shall I put it?" Wow, and there was another one who liked to cut to the chase. She wasn't the least bit surprised<br>"I don't know? It's just sex? It's just consolation? Having a good time? Why do you care?" She tried to match his tone.  
>"I'm just making sure no one gets hurt in the process!" Stefan said matter-of-factly.<br>"How could having sex hurt anyone?" Josephine mused that his super-girlfriend had probably send him to find out more about her 'business with Damon' because she was too shy or too proud to straightforward ask her again herself. Like at the barbecue.  
>"Is that an honest question?" Stefan raised one eyebrow critically.<br>"Yes… Oh dear, one could get the impression you're the older brother…"  
>Josephine didn't know a thing about Stefan personally, but he seemed kind of uptight and broody. Not in a bad way, but he was the complete opposite to Damon's outgoing and outspoken character. Him… well, he snatched her out of Stefan's arms very soon, pushing her into a dark corner of a well-clipped hedgerow by the end of the patio.<p>

Josephine laughed into Damon's eyes, enjoying the fact that she could actually tease him further with her now accomplished mission:  
>"Told you I totally dig your little brother."<br>Damon snorted: "Don't be ridiculous. He could never satisfy your need for kinky sex-positions."  
>"I don't have this need...," she protested. "Last time I remember we were doing it in the most common positions of the world. Man on top, woman on top…"<br>Why did their conversations always lead into that special direction? She knew she partly was to blame herself, but with him it was inevitable.  
>Damon interrupted her with a devilish smile: "You ain't seen nothing yet!"<br>"Is that a promise or a threat?"  
>"See, you're curious!"<br>"Yes, but that doesn't mean I'll like it."  
>Damon was surprised that Josephine could still talk normally, given the amount of seemingly expensive champagne she had gulped down all evening. If anything gave away that she was hopelessly drunk it was the way she spoke her mind even more frankly than usual and the slight sideway-swagger when she tried to walk in a straight line. It was adorable, really. He wanted to sweep her off her feet, right away from this boring place and at least have a little bit of fun tonight.<br>"So, let's try right now," Damon whispered close to her ear, but tonight an attempt like this got him nowhere.  
>"Sorry, but right now I think I need a drink more than sex in a possibly inconvenient position. Have you seen Klaus by the way? I think he would know how to mix a true-style Martini, don't you think? My last one was a bit weak..."<br>And there she went again, staggering up the stairs to the bar, still on her bare feet. Damon wondered if she even brought shoes in the first place.  
>He was curious where she originally came from. He just couldn't tell. Sometimes he thought her accent was not American at all. He had noticed that she was a sucker for the sun. In their week apart she had gotten more tanned than before, her freckles now really pointing out. He liked it. It was kind of different.<br>This time Damon followed her directly. Even if she hid it very well, she was still very drunk. In this environment it wasn't safe.  
>"How come you're going on about the crappy arrogant hybrid man?" he caught up with Josephine mid-stairs and linked arms with her.<p>

* * *

><p>"Tyler's not here, not even Caroline has seen him and now we've lost track of her, too. I think there's something wrong here. Have you talked to Miss Lockwood yet?"<br>An hour later Stefan, Elena in tow, had found Damon again to talk business.  
>"No, I'll go and see to her right away. You and Elena try and go find Klaus. I have the strangest feeling he's got at least something to do with it…"<br>Josephine took in the conversation only half listening. She didn't get what all the fuss was about. Now she'd gotten to the point in the drinking history of this evening where she couldn't possibly continue without throwing up or fainting or falling asleep on top of the bar counter. Why did things always change so quicky? She'd felt quite good a few seconds before, but now everything seemed to happen in slow motion. She really had to sit down for a while, but Damon wouldn't let her.  
>"Come on, we have to search for Tyler's mum you and I."<br>"Why? I don't even know her… What does she look like?"  
>If he hadn't caught her around her waist with his arm, she probably would have fallen to her feet. Damon kept her upright while dragging her with him.<br>"If you see two around fifty-year-old women with very light-brown hair, cut into a perfect long bob, that's maybe her."  
>"Why two?" Josephine wondered.<br>"I just guessed given how much alcohol is swimming through your brain cells at the moment, you might be at the double-seeing-stage. One could probably get shit-faced just by drinking your blood right now..."  
>"Just shut up!" The thought of someone, especially him, drinking her blood, made her feel even more nauseous. "Why are you dragging me along anyway? I could have stayed just where I was before."<br>"It's not safe to be alone at this party as long as something's going on with Tyler and Klaus."

They found the major, but she hadn't seen her son since earlier this evening, when nobody had been there yet.  
>In the middle of the gigantic house they finally met up with Stefan, Elena, Bonnie and Alaric – their search party had also been in vain. Everyone seemed worried as to what the hell was wrong with this invitation from Tyler and why he thought it funny to not show up at his own event. And where the hell was Caroline?<br>At the same time Josephine had composed herself of her sickness and gotten slightly annoyed by the whole drama-party and Damon's continuing grip on her arm. She would refuse to take part in this fake-crime-investigation. What ever happened to dancing? So she tried to break free and because she didn't succeed in actions, Josephine tried with words:  
>"Damon, let go of me! I wanna go, I don't care where this Tyler-boy is and I don't need you to babysit me!"<br>Damon did not react; he kept talking in hushed voices with Bonnie and Stefan.  
>"Maybe Caroline just got here before you lot, claiming her wolfboy to herself all evening in some creepy hotel-room. Have you ever thought about that?" She argued, but nobody listened to her. Stupid vampires &amp; Co.!<br>Meanwhile Matt had also appeared on the scene and Josephine took her chance to complain to him about Damon.  
>Thereby she caused the one to frown because Damon got his arm around her in the first place and the other because he really had more important things to care about than drunken-lady-stuff and hysterics. Matt was still a bit pissed with Josephine for leaving him on his own for most of the evening, so he didn't even think about helping her with Damon. She'd gotten herself into this, so...<br>They all had definitely underestimated Josephine's persistence. As she kept pulling at Damon's every limb to get away from him, she lost her balance and smashed into the guest-bathroom door in her back with such force, that it flew open, suddenly revealing Klaus and Caroline in a very compromising situation. A situation where Klaus had Caroline up on the white basin, dishevelling her blonde mane with one hand and pushing up her skirts with the other. Their lips only inches apart, both their mouths half open with fiery and eager expectation, it didn't look like this was an attempted rape. It seemed more like Caroline was relishing in it and not for the first time.  
>Damon was the first to react physically and pulled Josephine up again. This time she didn't protest. He would have almost enjoyed the sheepish look on her face, had the situation not been a bit too serious for that.<p>

Everybody stared at Caroline and Klaus, too shocked to speak or move. Klaus gained his cool at first, lifted Caroline gently back on to the floor and left the marble-tiled room with a mocking smile to the whole group gathered outside:  
>"Now, that's pretty rude of you people! But was else to expect from the riff-raff!"<br>When he passed Josephine he stopped for a second and stoked her cheek with his index finger:  
>"See little Josephine, I didn't even have to try very hard to get myself a lady-friend. Have a lovely night!" And with one last wink he was gone.<br>Now there was only Caroline, shaking at the basin, not sure what to do; exposed to all her friends, the loose strap of her dress dangling over her half-naked left breast.  
>Josephine suddenly found this whole "in flagrante" thing highly amusing. Even more so as she looked at all the disbelieving faces around her, she just started to chuckle.<br>"Whoops, who would've seen this one coming," she exclaimed. "What do you think Matt?"  
>This earned her affected looks and a very hurt expression from her blonde 'cousin'.<br>Damon mused that he would probably have said something insensitive like that himself, if he hadn't been so shocked for once.  
>Caroline the little liar! He should've killed her back in the days when she hadn't been almost as strong as him. How could she side with the enemy? This was taking "being Klaus' bait" way too seriously.<br>"I should have told you after the barbecue…" Josephine continued to babble.  
>"What? You knew? How – why… I don't believe this…" Matt fumed. He didn't know which girl he wanted to throttle first.<br>Caroline for betraying them all and hitting it off with Klaus; Josephine for obviously knowing about it and not telling him; or Elena and Bonnie for looking at him pitifully, expecting him to burst into tears or something any minute now.  
>"I, I have to talk to you, how can you…" he then settled for the first girl.<br>"I don't wanna hear it, Matt!" Caroline awakened from her torpor and decided to set to fightback mode, screaming at them all with tear-filled eyes. Still she didn't leave the room.  
>Josephine couldn't help it, she couldn't stop giggling. At some point she had started to lean into Damon, steadying herself and almost biting into his upper arm to keep from screaming with alcohol-inflicted laughter.<br>"I have to take her home first!" Josephine then registered Matt's reprehensive look and stopped laughing. Before she could start to protest that he wouldn't have to do this, that she could perfectly take care of herself and why the hell did he want her to go home, Damon offered: "I could take care of that, if I don't get out of here soon someone's gonna get killed…"  
>He wasn't sure who, yet. He kept eying Caroline menacingly.<br>"No, you won't. You keep your dirty vampire paws off her!" Matt raged and stepped up to him, clenching his fists.  
>Damon held up his hands in defeat, almost knocking Josephine over in the process.<br>"Easy there big boy. I didn't do a thing!" Yet, Damon added in his mind.  
>"All you supernaturals claiming our girls... I think I'm going insane." Matt threw a dirty look in Damon's and Stefan's direction.<br>"Matt! Let Damon take care of it! He's gonna take her home and we can deal with Caroline's and Klaus' drama." Alaric pleaded with him.  
>Finally Matt shrugged his shoulders in reluctant agreement – he had no choice. They just had to settle this… thing… with Caroline about… right now. Who knew what would be in a few hours.<p>

* * *

><p>While the girls and Matt tried to talk some sense into Caroline and find out how on earth this could ever have happened, Stefan went after Klaus, trying to find out where the hell Tyler was or if this party-invitation had been another one of Klaus' tricks to serve his evil plans on a greater scale. Maybe Tyler wasn't even back after all.<p>

In the meantime Damon had his hands full to get Josephine home safely. She was talking non-stop, always stopping mid-sentence and going into the wrong direction and continuing to babble on when he'd corrected her ways. Wasn't it all a funny coincidence, that they had disturbed Klaus and Caroline right that moment... blablabla...  
>Finally Damon was fed up with their slow progress. Before she could register his move, he'd grabbed her around the waist and rushed towards her house.<br>Luckily his speed-walk hadn't made her vomit. Right now she just stood on the frontdoor-steps and looked at him in awe:  
>"Awesome! Why aren't you drunk? I mean, you had the same and probably some more than me?"<br>"Maybe because I'm a vampire and you're not!"  
>"Okay, I think you've got a point there. Where the heck are my keys…?" She fumbled around in her clutch, not succeeding to find anything besides a cell-phone, a lipstick and some unusable stuff.<br>"Here, let me!" Damon ordered, took her purse and extracted her keyring in less than two seconds, opened the door in three and shoved her inside in four.  
>"Wow, that was extremely kind of you. Would you like to have a last drink with me inside?" She sputtered, before suddenly opening her eyes wide and throwing her hands up in horror:<br>"Whoops – fuck! Now I've invited you in. Shit! You're not gonna tell Matt, are you? Because he's gonna be soooo fucking pissed with me, when he finds out. So it would be absolutely great, if you kept your sensual mouth shut about my little faux-pas. You're not gonna take advantage of it, of course." Josephine looked at him inquiringly with inculpable, babyblue eyes, still swaying between doorframe and banister rail.  
>"Of course not..." Damon smiled about her drunken naiveté and entered the house, now completely to his disposal.<br>Slowly he steered her upstairs to her room, or where he guessed her room should be.  
>In the smallest room at the far end of the upper corridor she then slumped down on the broad futon, overloaded with embroidered pillows. Josephine sighed contently when her head hit the soft mattress and closed her eyes for a millisecond. That was more like it. But something in the back of her mind warned her not to drift off to sleep, however badly she needed the rest, while a vampire stood in her bedroom, ready to pounce. With all the willpower she had left, Josephine propped herself up on her elbows, watching Damon through thick lashes and with dopey eyes. He was still leaning in the doorframe; evaporating masculinity and pure sex. His dress jacket had come off, now hanging casually over his left arm, his button-down-shirt not so button-down anymore. The first three open buttons allowing a terrific view on his glorious chest. His look was guarded, but yet there was no denying a slight glint of wild, untamed passion in them. Josephine noticed that she subconsciously was biting her bottom lip and the pulse between her legs had begun to throb again.<br>"Damon, I really shouldn't be telling you this because you're already so full of yourself, but I just have to say it out loud now, and I'm only gonna tell you once: God – YOU'RE SOOO DAMN HOT!"  
>This was like green traffic lights to Damon tonight. In a flash he was on top of her, doing what he had wanted to do all fucking week. He buried his head in the soft mould between her firm breasts, kissing and sucking his way upwards. When he'd reached her tiny earlobes there was a sharp intake of breath from her: "Please don't do that – not there…" Everything else Josephine had wanted to say was muffled by Damon's lips wandering from her ear over her cheek and landing softly on her mouth, kissing her lips delicately. She wondered if it was possible to have an orgasm just from tasting his exquisite tongue…<br>But Damon also had an ulterior motive:  
>"Now, we're going to try again with the truth: What were you doing last night at the police station?" Still pinning her in place with his hard body he suddenly held her face tightly in his hands, forcing her to look him in the eyes.<br>It took a second for Josephine to take in what he'd just said, at first she just stared at him incredulously.  
>But then she burst out laughing again:<br>"Damon, you're just so paranoid! Like I said: I wasn't there. Maybe I suddenly have a doppelganger, too? Anything can happen in Mystic Falls…" she giggled. Okay, this wasn't really sexy and seductive, but if she could even lie about it in a crocked state, Damon would maybe suck it up...

**To be continued... in the endlessly long hiatus until SEASON 4!**


	11. Chapter 11

**SOOOOO, SOOO sorry for abandoning you all for so long, but - I don't know, I needed some time to figure out where I was going with this and then there's always the real world, so... anyway: I'm intending on posting more chapters soon, it's supposed to get exciting, sexy and - you just wait and read! :-)  
>For a start here's some hangover-bickering of Josephine and Damon after the party at Tyler's... <strong>

Josephine awoke the next morning with a screaming headache. Opening her eyes was extremely painful in the cold and cruel morning sunlight that flooded through her windows. Groaning she pressed her palms against her eyeballs and turned towards the side of the bedroom door, where she gave greeting the day another shot.  
>But when she blinked them open for a second time, the only thing she saw was a figure clad in black and wearing a smug smile. Although she knw that it could only be one special person, she was all of a sudden wide awake and sat bold upright in her bed, suppressing a shriek with the back of her hand against her mouth:<p>

"Shit Damon! You scared me!"  
>"Well, good morning to you, too. You don't seem to be a sleepy-head, do you?"<br>"Have you been here all the tim?"  
>"No, but I was gone for just about three hours since you blacked out and here you are - wide awake again..."<br>"It's the alcohol, always makes me wake up too early."  
>"Then why'd you drink so much last night?"<br>"Sort of sped past the point-of-no-return I think..."  
>"I guess you don't feel so well then?"<br>"To be honest, I can't remember a thing... everything's a bit of a blur."  
>"Well, I could help to refresh your memory, if you like... For example: You were all over me last night. I just didn't know how to stop you. You called me - what was it exactly - DAMN HOT - yeah, I think that pretty much nails it down."<br>Josephine groaned again and hid her face in the cushions.  
>"You know I could have spared you that headache and fed you my blood yesterday, but when I offered you told me to get lost and stop talking, or you would puke all over me..."<br>'Real sexy', Josephine thought to herself, only barely able to endure the description of her yesterday-self. She covered her ears with her hands to show that she wasn't interested in hearing any more.  
>Luckily Damon had not only come to tease her about her drunken behavior. He sat down next to her on the futon and almost gently pried her fingers off her face:<br>"So, it seems like you're not the only Klaus-shipper here..." Damon didn't know why he let her in on the newest discoveries about Caroline and Klaus, that had been uncovered during the night. He didn't even know if he trusted her yet, but he found himself confiding in her as soon as the 'hello's' had kind of been exchanged. He needed someone to speak his mind to and thereby help him to restructure his thoughts. Preferably someone with a vocabulary that extended beyond 'yes', 'no' and 'perhaps'.

"I don't shipper him, of fancy him, I just said that he was absurdly nice to me and I don't have any negative experiences to hold against him. I don't believe in agreeing with other people's opinions without having made up my mind." If I did you wouldn't be here in my bedroom, Josephine added mutely.  
>"And that makes him a good person?" Damon raised his characteristic eyebrow in disbelief.<br>"That's not what I said!" Josephine suddenly couldn't stand the proximity of him on her bed. So she got up with an exasperated sigh and went to go through her closet, searching for something to cover her panties and top with. She felt way too exposed like this.  
>"Do you think I'm a nice person?"<br>"Why are you asking?"  
>"Just checking if you generally tend to hang out with the wrong crowd!"<p>

Josephine sighed. If only he knew how right he was. She turned around to look at him, not really surprised to find that he had left his spot on the bed and was standing right behind her, as usual. She was ready to give him a piece of mind:

"Actually I don't think you're a nice person. How could I? You threaten people, you kill them, you drink human blood, and you seem to be an egocentric womanizer with a little too much self-esteem. What else do you want to hear?"  
>"And yet you're sleeping with me..." Again that crooked smile.<br>"Yeah, that's where your real quality lies... But generally I don't count someone who I only slept like twice with 'someone I sleep with'."  
>"I don't get it!" Damon really looked a bit confused, but Josephine was too tired and cranky to continue this:<br>"Then don't. I really would appreciate if you left, because I'm not in the mood and state for serious conversations and controversial discussions." She crossed her arms and wrapped the long cardigan she had just put on tighter around her.

"Woah, and this is the second time in less than 24 hours that you're kicking me out. D'you think this is wise?" Damon grabbed her shoulders, but she didn't move a bit. She just went on staring at him grimly. He couldn't get over the fact that she had never really been afraid that he could do something bad to her.  
>"I don't care if it's wise or not, I just know that I will not have that conversation with you right now. If you want to tell me about Klaus &amp; Caroline, fine. Go ahead! I'll listen. But don't make this something about us, because there is no such thing as 'us'."<p>

Only for a moment Damon felt a little sting in his chest, because of these harsh words. But he quickly decided that he had to play her differently, if he wanted to keep the connection...

**As I said: Just a little tease, there's more to come. **


End file.
